Streets Run Red
by GuardianSoulBlade
Summary: Summary: Kevin Levin hid secrets from the Tennyson cousins, but it seems that they won't be buried forever and now he has to reclaim an identity he had abandoned.
1. April 28th

**Streets Run Red**

**_Summary:_**_ Kevin Levin hid secrets from the Tennyson cousins, but it seems that they won't be buried forever and now he has to reclaim an identity he had abandoned._

**April 28**

Kevin Levin ran his fingers through his hair as he looked at his reflection in the mirror.

It had been six years since he'd been trapped in the Null Void, and four years since a day that had changed his life. He had put that event behind him and had moved on with his life, he didn't like to think about the past and all his screw-ups, he felt he had matured beyond his blind rage and need to lash out at others, but today, he felt like he was going to explode.

_"Do you understand?"_

The words rang in his mind over and over. People always tried to get him to understand, but for so long he never did, when he did he did understand it was always too late for him to do anything.

_"Yeah I get it. He's a total_ nut bar."

Kevin thought he'd been a crazy psycho, but when it came to scary villains, villains told stories about this one in order to scare each other, and it worked every single time.

He'd known the sheer power of psychosis, and he once thought that he could handle facing a villain who was even more insane than he had been. He'd been very wrong and had paid a terrible price for it, but looking at him now you couldn't tell.

"No. _Do_ not _treat this_ _lightly, and don't write him off as simply being_ insane. _It's _not _that simple._ _He's _not _like the others." _

Kevin had learned the hard way to take villains seriously, and he had always been serious when he was around Ben and Gwen, he didn't want to repeat his mistakes.

_"He has no_ code_. No_ methodology_. No _goals. _You can't hope to_ understand _him because his desires are_ fluid. _They_ change."

When he had absorbed all of Aggregor's powers, he had actually tried to use this formula against Ben. It had almost worked, but Gwen had been persistent and had tried so hard to keep Ben from killing him.

He had never understood his former mentor's need to spare the villains, but mow that he'd experienced it, he understood, still, it had almost cost him his life.

_"He can't be_ predicted. _He can't be_ reasoned _with."_

Kevin thoughts turned inward. He had been so selfish when he was insane, it had always been about him when he was that way, but even though he had wanted to kill, he'd always had a _reason_, this freak had the most unpredictable mind known to humanity.

_"And if you're _careless_ with him…_you'll die_. Do you understand?"_

He'd been stupid and careless and he'd paid for it. He'd learned his lesson and he tried his best to put it into practice.

_"Yes I understand."_

Looking back on his past, he had been petty, and he knew there was no way he would have been able to get revenge, but he had been instilled with a need to protect people, he had suppressed it for a long time in order to forget about the things he had done, he had blocked out years because he had wanted to be selfish and unattached to anyone, but when he had come back into the Tennyson's lives he had rekindled those feelings of needing to protect and the selflessness that he had felt long ago.

"Good. _Because he's back out there and only_ _we can stop him."_

Kevin shook his head, brushing away the old memory. He hadn't thought about _him_ in years, not since he'd hatched a plan to get revenge on everyone who had wronged him, and not just Ben, he'd gone after the one person he hated more than Ben Tennyson, but he'd been thwarted, and after he had recovered from his injuries he had gone back to Bellwood and made the deal with the Forever Knights that had brought him back into contact with the Tennyson cousins.

Kevin had lived in the Incarcecon for a year, after he had escaped, he had travelled the globe, learning more from other criminals, increasing his knowledge of alien tech, but he'd fallen on hard times and had settled into a rather famous crime-ridden city, where he had met an extraordinary man who had offered him the opportunity to become something beyond even his wildest dreams, but the happiness was short lived and tragedy had ripped him away from the one thing that had brought meaning to his life.

He had been through more than anyone was expected to handle, only to find that he had been replaced and seemingly forgotten, so he set out on a quest to take revenge and he'd planned it for years only to lose in the end. But ever since he'd come back to Bellwood, he'd put all of it behind him. He had obtained his dream, had a wonderful girlfriend and a best friend and the life he had always wanted, but today, the past was starting to creep up on him.

Kevin sighed, "It's the anniversary of…well; let's just not think about that. It doesn't matter anyway."

He got up from his bed and wiped the sweat off his face, he always had the same nightmare every April 28th but he had been thinking about his troubled past lately, more than usual.

He checked his phone for text from Gwen or Ben, he desperately hoped that there would be something for him to do, but most importantly, he wanted to smash some criminal scumbags and release his anxious, pent up feelings.

Kevin got into his car and drove over to Mr. Smoothies were Ben and Gwen were waiting for him.

"So Gwen, have you heard all the chatter at my school lately?" Ben asked. "People are saying there's some sort of new vigilante or something like that."

"I've heard stories, few people seen him. There aren't any photos of him. I have heard say that he kills criminals. It's a terrifying thought that someone would do that. It's like how you wanted to kill Kevin when he went insane."

"Kevin was an extreme case, I don't want to kill people, but it's a last resort," Ben protested.

"What's this about a new guy?" Kevin asked.

"It's just hearsay and rumors, but there's a murderer on the loose," Gwen looked concerned.

"He kills criminals," Ben said. "We should keep a lookout for him."

"Dually noted," Kevin nodded. "Have you heard anything from the Plumbers lately?"

"We've got trouble on the docks, heard rumors there's an illegal shipment coming in. It might be stuff the police can handle, but I have a bad feeling that if we don't check it out, then something bad is going to happen."

They headed down to the docks and saw a small gathering of men unloading crates, Ben stepped forward.

"What do you boys got in there?" he asked.

The goons didn't say anything; they set the crates down and began attacking.

"Why did they have to be guys in clown masks?" Ben asked himself.

Kevin realized just where he'd seen goons like this before, and now he knew that they were getting in way over their heads.

Gwen charged, punching and kicked the nearest goon. They were decent fighters, but there were quite a few of them. Beating them back, some of them ran off and the three teens were alone.

Kevin spotted a card on the ground, it looked like a playing card, he picked it up, and looked at it. His face paled and he quickly shoved it in a pocket.

"Kevin, are you all right, you look kind of sick," Gwen was concerned.

"It's nothing," Kevin lied. "Don't worry about me."

"Guys!" Ben exclaimed, "There they are!" Ben took off running toward the goons.

The three teens were in hot pursuit and found them as they spread out to surround them.

Slowly the three heroes were forced back into a nearby warehouse, there were too many thugs with guns and even Ben's aliens could only do so much, along with Gwen and Kevin's powers.

"So long suckers!" the goon shouted, locking the door as the three heroes struggled to get to their feet.

Ben had just transformed into Fasttrack and was about to charge the goon shutting the heavy warehouse doors when the Ultimatrix timed out and reverted him back to normal. Kevin ran towards the door but it was too late.

Gwen ran up to the door and pounded on it. Ben tried to activate the Ultimatrix, but it failed.

"The Ultimatrix timed out," Ben looked at the watch. "I can't get us out of here."

"I'm too exhausted to teleport," Gwen groaned.

"I guess I'll have to," Kevin looked around, there were a lot of odds and ends, but he knew he'd be able to get them out, "Just give me a couple minutes."

Kevin took out the water bottle he'd been carrying and began using the materials around him to make an improvised explosive device. He pulled out some detonation cord and rigged it up and set it against the door.

Ben gave his best friend a stern look. "I know you know how to dismantle bombs but how did you learn to _make_ them?"

"I learned from Shurik Ivanko."

"He's a dead Russian mobster who made bombs and trained others or an enormous fee. What were you trying to blow up?" Gwen demanded angrily.

"Something in my past and it's not something I want to talk about," Kevin replied. "Just stay back." He detonated the bomb, blasting the door apart; at least they could leave now. "I'm impressed you actually know about Shurik."

"I keep track of a lot of things, high profile criminals are something that I keep track of, just in case they go for the alien black market."

"I see," Kevin smiled; she never ceased to impress him.

"Just what did you _do_ before you became a good guy?" Ben asked.

"You don't want the answer to that question Ben, my past is not particularly pretty," Kevin sighed. I'm not ready to tell you everything."

"When will you be ready?" Ben asked.

"In time, just don't worry about it," Kevin looked over at Gwen.

"Let's get back to the car, maybe I can track them through their cell phones, I saw what kind they have and with the alien tech I have access to, I'm sure I can listen in on their conversation."

Kevin watched her work on the computer. Her hands flew over the keyboard typing in commands as she accessed the goons cell phones, fortunately, one of them was making a phone call. She hoped that she would be able to get a location based off the cell phone towers.

Ben stared at Gwen, "What is it Gwen?"

"I've tapped into a cell phone conversation; I'm bringing it up right now."

_"We got the stuff for the boss—the shipment place is—"_ more static and interference. _"He wants to test it in Bellwood's water supply. Says there will be fireworks—ignites in the air."_

Kevin's heart stopped, he'd seen this type of plan before, a long time ago in another lifetime.

_"Gotta make sure this gets through, so the boss doesn't kill us."_

_"He might kill us anyway, especially if he thinks it's funny."_

_"That's why we can't screw this up. We gotta make sure that Tennyson kid doesn't find us."_

_"He only handles big bad aliens, he's not gonna care about us."_

"We'll see about that!" Ben snarled. "We're going to stop them; we're going to tear the city apart until we find these chemicals and their boss. We're going to get him and keep this plan from happening."

"Oh God!" Gwen exclaimed. "This kind of stuff doesn't happen in our city, sure we get alien invasions and those types of psychos, but we can't let this happen."

"We'll get them like we always do," Kevin said, feigning the confidence he didn't have.

"Gwen, triangulate that signal and let's hope we can track them down, we have to find these guys fast!"

"I was stupid, I should have grabbed something off them so they could be tracked," Kevin scolded himself. He'd been careless and stupid again. It had been a bad day.

"Don't blame yourself Kevin, we didn't know this was going to happen," Gwen reassured him. Kevin didn't find her words very reassuring.

There was only one man on Earth who was insane enough to do something like this. And the dark demons of his past were resurfacing in the worst way possible.


	2. Phantom Pain

**Phantom Pain**

_**Author's Note: **__I fixed some typos, but the one spelling error that I refuse to change is how I spelled Manna, I do believe it's one N in the captions, but "Manna" is a word in the Bible and I like how it's spelled, means bread from Heaven, so I'm keeping my spelling the same. Everything else, I use the Ben 10 wiki spellings so I don't know if those are actually correct. _

Kevin watched as Ben and Gwen both worked furiously at their computers.

Kevin inadvertently fell asleep. His dreams were a jumble of images, memories of his life, from his childhood to a time before he'd been reunited with Ben and Gwen.

Kevin was in a room filled with a fiery pit, it terrified him, he couldn't understand what was going on. Someone pushed him into it, the searing burning, but then something happened…memories…were returning to him at an astonishing speed, and he understood everything that had happened to him…even his own murder. He let out a desperate scream as he gasped for air.

Another man's voice bellowed in his ears.

_"A deceitful child has spurned her father…! …_AND CURSED YOUR SOUL_!"_

"Talia…" Kevin murmured in his sleep.

Gwen started and stared at him in surprise. Who was Talia? She'd never heard him say the name before. Was it a girlfriend? She couldn't tell. What kind of dream was he _having_ anyway?

"Kevin, Kevin wake up," Gwen nudged his shoulders.

"Oh hi," he looked at her.

"Who is Talia?" Gwen asked.

"It doesn't matter anymore," was his reply. He didn't say anything more about it. They were intending to investigate who was behind the plot to put something in the Bellwood water supply, but they got sidetracked by Dr. Animo.

It had been a busy day, they had battled Dr. Animo again and even though they had beaten him, they had all gotten their clothes torn; Gwen had to get a new pair of pants after they'd gotten ripped up badly, and Ben had torn his elbows open while avoiding an attack. Kevin had to get himself another shirt after his had been disintegrated.

Ben saw his friend walking by the mirror as he moved to get himself another shirt to replace his torn up one. He thought he saw a long scar on Kevin's neck, between his neck and his shoulder blade. It was as if something had sliced him there. It was probably from one of Kevin's fights in the Null Void.

It must have been a very deep wound, as Osmosians were pretty tough and could take a lot when it came to beatings. Whatever happened, it must have been a brutal fight.

"Where'd you get the scar Kevin?" Ben asked.

"Which one?" Kevin was unsure of which scar he meant, he had a few from the Null Void and some from his adventures before his reunion with the Tennysons.

"The one on your neck," Ben pointed.

"I was fighting with someone, he was preventing me from killing a guy I hated," Kevin replied. His mind seemed elsewhere.

"I suppose that's a good thing," Ben smiled. "Who was it?"

"That's a secret," Kevin smiled. "One I'm not going to tell you."

"Aw, come on!" Ben exclaimed. "I've told you tons of my stories, now I want some of yours!"

"Maybe some other time, I heard a rumor about those chemicals, and something about the pier amusement park, I'll go check it out. You have to go investigate the new drug that everyone's been getting into; you thought it was similar to what's going to happen with the water supply."

"Fine, I'll go, but you owe me your story, okay?" Ben turned and left.

"Yeah, I'll tell you later, I promise," Kevin drove off. It was time for him to do a lot of work.

Gwen had been investigating possible meeting places for the drop off of the mysterious chemical. So far, nothing had come up and she was just about to go home. She heard them shouting about chemicals and had to wonder if they worked for the so far unnamed mystery man who wanted to poison the Bellwood reservoirs.

She heard panicked shouts and screaming. "Forget the chemicals!" one of them shouted. "Let's just get out of here before he—"

Gwen saw the man drop dead, hit by a sniper shot. The other men with him started running, but they fell dead too. Gwen took cover, searching for the skilled sniper, but couldn't see anyone, she couldn't see inside, but she could sense someone was in there, and they were waiting for her.

She made her way in cautiously. "You murdered my best leads!" she shouted to the air.

"They wouldn't have done you any good, they're just the leg breakers, dumb earners, they have no idea what they're moving."

"Why would you care?" Gwen asked.

"It's not particularly interesting," the man's voice said, he pointed a finger up at her.

"But I've always wanted to meet you!" a voice exclaimed. Gwen looked over and saw a man, sitting on a stool, his hands steepled, calmly looking at her. He was dressed in leather, wearing a black jacket and a gray shirt and gray pants and wore steel-toed boots. She could see he had guns and a strange knife at his side. She couldn't see his face, because it was covered by a round red helmet, his eyes were covered by white lenses and he seemed to be scrutinizing her.

"Who _are_ you?" Gwen demanded.

"Call me the Red Hood, at least that's what they called me back in Gotham City."

"I've heard about you, you're the guy who tore up the criminal underworld and went after Black Mask," Gwen kept her voice even. This was not her day. But she could have sworn the vigilante calling himself the Red Hood hadn't been active for years. But why would he come to Bellwood?

Red Hood crossed his arms and she heard him chuckle. "You're a smart girl. Not a whole lot of people know about me. If you were really smart you'd get outta my way."

"That's not going to happen!" Gwen informed him as she prepared to fight him. She was going to stop him; that was a fact.

Gwen took the offensive, launching herself straight at the helmeted vigilante.

Red Hood jumped up from his seat and blocked her blows and struck back. Gwen managed to duck, avoiding the punches aimed at her face.

She saw him kicking at her, but she anticipated his moves and used kicks of her own to counter him.

Gwen concentrated, using her powers to form shuriken that she slid between her fingers and used to slash at Red Hood's mask, she was surprised when she actually scratched the mask, leaving three long gashes that looked like claw marks.

"Good…_nice_…" Red Hood complimented. "I'm actually having fun with you."

"This isn't funny!" Gwen retorted.

"Don't make me shoot you!" Gwen warned, she'd removed her Plumber standard issue firearm and aimed it at him.

"Lotsa people try to shoot me baby, but they aren't able to," Red Hood smirked.

"They're not _me_," Gwen said evenly.

"You seem like a nice girl, you're not the type to kill people," he commented.

"Who said I'm going to kill you, I can incapacitate you, and I'm turning you over to the police."

Red Hood opened fire; Gwen took cover and returned it. She kept aiming at him and he kept running away, she'd barely miss him, but she was an excellent marksman and it showed. The Red Hood actually seemed worried. She wasn't one of those criminals who believed that you could kill something by pumping out as many bullets as possible at it.

"I can keep this up as long as you can!" she shouted at him.

"Only until you're out of power before it overheats," he looked at her.

"Or I put one in your eye!" Gwen aimed for his masked eyes; he managed to avoid the shot.

"No. You're not going to do that. You're going to keep shooting those lasers at me but avoid every killing wound," he said as Gwen launched more Manna at him, while firing her gun with one hand.

Red Hood cut down her energy blasts with his Kris, the strangely curved blade he carried.

"You know how easy this is when you limit your options. You're working with the same thirty-three. Thirty-three angles, points—thirty-three shots. None of which, will be a fatal shot."

Gwen kept coming for him. He kept cutting down her energy blasts. "And when that gun is empty, you _know_ I'm going to _come_ for you!"

Gwen was running towards the Red Hood when she suddenly felt something hit her and pull her forward. She shot towards her opponent and felt her body slam into his fist. She fell on her back hard, it shattered the Manna platform they had been fighting on and they both began to fall, but she managed to make another platform, he'd almost fallen off but flipped himself back onto it.

"Clotheslining, works every time," he smirked. Gwen saw the grapple gun, so that was what hit her.

Gwen saw him aim his guns at her and she ran for cover. She had been going for her gun when she saw that he'd shot it so it wouldn't work anymore.

"Now let's move on," Red Hood seemed almost conversational with her. "Yeah I know…snazzy right?" I'm a pretty good shot. Got real good with guns to piss off the old boss."

Gwen aimed her powers toward the sprinklers and set them off. Red Hood was startled and he dropped his guns.

"Here," the masked vigilante told her, "I want to keep this fight interesting."

Gwen saw a katana land near her feet as he threw it into the ground. "Now, pick that up."

"I was hoping you'd go for the sprinklers. I was wondering how much training you've done with swords. In the rain."

"Plenty," Gwen told him. This would be interesting, if only he _wasn't _trying to kill her.

"Baby, I gotta tell you...I really wish I could be watching this one ringside as well as fighting it...'cause it's gonna be good."

Blades met with fury. Each blow they exchanged was fierce and they were both trying to overpower the other.

"Am I going to get a lecture from you about how I'm the bad guy?" he taunted.

"No. No lectures." She ducked low to the floor and avoided a slash as she rose up and hacked the vigilante's masked face again.

"You missed. Either that or you _weren't _going for the throat," Red Hood pointed at his damaged mask. "That's the problem with all of you, _limits_."

Gwen rose up and stabbed the sword through his leather jacket. "Your problem is…you don't know when to stop!"

"You're pretty smart kid!" Red Hood head-butted her in the face. She fell back toward a shelf full of chemicals.

Gwen braced her feet on a nearby shelf and used her momentum to flip Red Hood across the room. She ran into the adjoining room.

Gwen contacted Kevin's Plumber badge. "Kevin, I could really use your help now! I think I found our vigilante."

"_Sorry, sweetheart can't make it,"_ Kevin replied. _"I'm getting the crap kicked out of me!"_

"I'll come get you," she told him. "As soon as I'm done with him."

"Miss me, baby?" Red Hood asked as he smashed through the wall.

She managed to drop kick him and sent him flying back as she caught his sword. Gwen moved to stand over him, holding the swords in the shape of an X so that if she moved, she could decapitate him if she wanted to.

"I have your weapon Red Hood, it's over, I'm the one who will stop you." she held the sword against his neck.

"Just what _are_ you?" He queried with interest.

"Hero, Plumber, high school student…and the girl who has two swords at your throat…Now let's talk about _limits_…"

Gwen wondered what the expression on his face was. His demeanor seemed to be that of a puppy, eagerly awaiting a treat as a reward from their master for doing a good job, he actually seemed _happy_ that she'd beaten him.

"Nice and slow…lose the guns, the belt, the jacket and the helmet," Gwen ordered.

"That's what _she_ said!" Red Hood smirked.

Gwen gave him a glare. She wondered if he flinched under the helmet.

"Aw c'mon, you and me fight with a few pig stickers and I'm goin' away in cuffs?" Red Hood asked, the girl was very good, but he figured it was about time he left. He had other things to do tonight, but Gwen did give him a good time, he had to admit that.

"No, I _know_ this is _exactly_ how you're going down," Gwen gave him a stern look. He just seemed to be even more amused.

"_Think_ kid…I picked this place to fight you…got Ben 10 across town…Hell…Do you think I _always_ just carry a _katana_ in my back pocket?"

She heard a hissing sound and saw smoke spewing from the hilt of the katana.

"Crap," Gwen's eyes widened. She did what any smart person does with a smoking weapon; she threw it across the room into the wall.

Red Hood was already moving, "I'd do a lot _more_ than throw that thing away! And I'd do it _fast_!"

Gwen dove out of the laboratory door just as the building exploded. She began running after the Red Hood who had hopped on a red motorcycle and was speeding away.

She let loose a volley of concentrated Manna blasts, but she watched as he avoided all of them.

"Damn. She is resilient girl, isn't she? Well, there's always next time!"

Gwen was about to go after the Red Hood when her phone rang.

"_Hey Gwen, where are you?"_ Kevin asked.

"I'm down at the now blown up chemical lab; I'm on my way to help."

"_It blew up! Are you okay?"_ he asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm coming to help you."

"_All right, it's getting pretty hairy down here by the amusement park. Still getting the crap kicked out of me."_

Gwen hopped on the top of a truck and used various cars to get to where Kevin was.

Kevin looked relieved to see her, he'd been battling more of the clown masked goons, he had done a good job holding his own and she leapt in to assist him. Together they knocked out the rest of the thugs and tied them all up. She hoped that they actually knew something and that the Red Hood wouldn't show up to shot all of them.

"Now, talk!" Kevin shouted. "Tell us what's going on!"

"Actually, we don't need to do that," Ben, having turned into Rath came lumbering up to them with a goon over his shoulder. "I told them, "Let me tell you somethin' Clownies, Rath hates clowns and if you don't talk to me, Rath'll rip your face off!" So the goons talked and told me what's going on."

"So, what did you find?" Gwen asked. She had a feeling she wasn't going to like the answer.

Ben hit the Ultimatrix and reverted back to his human form. "The stuff's already on the street. It's mixed with Ecstasy and they call it Chuckles."

That wasn't good at all, Gwen was worried.

"Is it the same stuff that's going in the water?" she asked.

"It's a variation, but they said the big boss didn't like it because it took his killer gas and made it a joke. Said he wants to make an example of Bellwood because it's popular with the teens here. They don't know when it's going to happen, but they know it's soon. They also said they know their boss as Jack White. I _have _heard that name before, I don't know where though."

"This can't get any worse!" Gwen groaned.

Kevin sighed; he knew it could get a _whole_ lot worse.


	3. Leg Breakers

**Leg Breakers**

_Four Years Ago…_

Kevin looked at Talia. _"I _didn't_ lose my nerve."_

"_I never assumed you would," _her reply was confident.

"_I just couldn't let him…get off so _easy_," _Kevin looked out straight ahead of him._ "He'd never know what _happened_. He'd never know _why_. He'd never know it was _me_."_

Kevin gathered his thoughts._ "I want…I'm going to face him. _Him and me._"_

_His eyes blazed with burning black hatred. "I'm going to _kill him_. With my _own hands_. He's going to be looking me in the _eyes_ when he dies. When I _take him_ from this world." _

Kevin turned back to the only person who had ever cared about him in his life.

"_Will you help me do that?"_ Kevin turned back to her. They would make him pay.

"Of course_," _Talia replied.

Her inner thoughts were much different_. "My father is right…I have unleashed a _curse_ upon this world." _

Kevin's mind returned to the present day. They'd been searching for drug dealers who specialized in distributing Chuckles, the mysterious designer drug that was the hot item among the city's teens.

Ben had heard about a guy named Afie "Fredo" Tisner who sold drugs on the south side of town, he decided to pay him a visit. Kevin said he was going to look into the shipping yard for any suspicious cargo. Gwen knew some of the rough crowd hung around her private school, hoping to mooch off the rich kids that went there, she decided to look into that.

Gwen Tennyson saw a street tough Davis MicCullen lurking around her school. She knew he sold drugs, but she'd never actually been able to catch him in the act.

She couldn't exactly proposition him for them, everyone knew she was a straight laced kid, but maybe she could fool him into thinking she wanted some. She'd been able to trick Vulkanus into revealing that he'd put out a hit on Ben, tricking him with ease and impressing Argit.

Davis saw the girl coming toward him. He was surprised. Gwen Tennyson was a pretty.

"Hello beautiful!" he gave her an accommodating smile. "What can I do you for?"

Gwen got his innuendo and resisted the urge to smirk. "So tell me, what's it take to get a hold of some Chuckles?"

"Ah, Chuckles, it is a little hard to get, because it's popular, but I've got a shipment coming in, I'll get you some, $100 bucks for a bag, and that's cheap."

"I don't have that kind of money on me," Gwen shifted, shoving her hands in her pocket.

"Cutie, looking at you, I'd give you a good deal if…you'd give me a good time," Davie smiled. Gwen knew what he was getting at, but she didn't let it show on her face.

"I have a boyfriend so I can't do that."

"He doesn't have to know."

"He'd know, and I'd know."

"Well, if you get that hundred dollars, come find me again," Davis walked off.

Gwen walked away, hoping this lead would pay off, still, the sick pervert creeped her out. How many girls had he gotten with that trick? Just the thought of it was squicky. That was how girls got into prostitution most of the time, to feed their drug habits. Davis McCullen was heading back to his meth lab when suddenly he spotted a figure blocking is path.

"Oh crap!" he exclaimed. "The Red Hood!"

"Hello Davis, I can see you're doing well," Red Hood looked at him with disdain and hatred.

"You—you blew up my lab in Gotham City, can't you just leave me alone?"

"No, you tried to sell drugs to a high school student, a very _stellar_ student. You probably _pressured_ her into buying them didn't you?"

"L—Listen man, that girl came to me wanting some, I never offered her anything."

"Ah, I see," the masked vigilante seemed to come to a realization. "You give her what she wants, but if you solicit her for sex again, you're dead. Are we clear?"

"As crystal," Davis told him, swallowing hard.

"Nice to see you understand," Red Hood turned and walked off. "Pull out your gun in your pants and I'll kill you."

Davis shuddered.

It didn't really matter to the Red Hood, he had plans for Davis McCullen, but not until the girl was done with what she needed, after all, he _was_ an enemy of all the bad guys. Might as well give the girl a hand somehow.

* * *

><p>Her attempt to get Chuckles from Davis McCullen was only half successful. She still needed a hundred bucks, but there was no way she was using her own money for it, and alerting her parents to what she was doing was out of the question. She'd have to figure out another way to get money.<p>

She was smart and she'd figure out a way to get the money, maybe Kevin could help her since he knew how to get money from various aliens and she could get it converted to U.S. dollars.

Gwen decided to pay Kevin a visit, he'd help her with her plan and he would understand why she needed it.

She made her way over to Kevin's house. His mother met her at the door. She let Gwen in and she began wandering around the house.

Gwen saw a stack of letters on the desk in Kevin's room; she wondered what they were and couldn't resist a peek at one of them. She picked it up and read:

_My dearest Kevin,_

_If you are reading this, then we have succeeded. Centuries ago, my father discovered these pools, these fountains of youth, for their ability to rejuvenate; they were dubbed the Lazarus Pits. Since taking possession of them, he and he alone has bathed in their waters._

_He is arguably immortal, and for that reason, he took great interest in you. But I had other reasons. Despite my search for answers, you remain a mystery._

_You were dead, Kevin. Murdered. Buried. And mourned. But you returned to this world. A miracle. And you wandered into my view. _

_Fate is commanding your life in a way I can barely fathom. I judge what I have done as not so much intervening on fate's behalf, but as stepping out of its way. Only time will tell what that is._

_But you should know, more than any other reason—I have done this for love. And I hope that will guide you into what you will become._

The letter was unsigned, but apparently, Kevin knew who the writer was. Gwen was visibly shaking, Kevin had _died_? Murdered? It was impossible, if Kevin had actually died, they would have heard something, he'd seemed perfectly fine when they'd seen him again, and he'd not acted like a zombie at all. He'd not once mentioned being killed, let alone murdered.

She was trying to come to grips with this revelation. Gwen contemplated confronting Kevin with it, but he would probably deny it, she could show him the letter, but he could say it was from a crazy person.

There was only one solution; she'd have to find undeniable proof of Kevin's death. His death certificate, he probably didn't keep it on him, she'd have to search for it herself. And these Lazarus Pits, she had heard about them, in a mythology and folklore elective she'd been taking.

She had never heard of them actually being used. Who was this woman and how did she have access to something that didn't exist? She could tell the writing was that of a woman because she could sense all the emotion behind the words, and their sincerity.

Gwen heard Kevin open the door and she slipped the letter back into where it had been and walked out of his room.

"Kevin," she smiled, kissing him on the lips.

He returned it and gave her a hug. "Mom told me you were here, what do you want?"

"Uh, do you have a hundred dollars?" Gwen asked.

"Yes, what do you need it for?" Kevin looked at her.

"I need it to get some Chuckles from Davis McCullen. I need it as a part of the investigation. You understand don't you?"

"Yes, but I don't have hundred bucks on me or I'd give it to you, I wish I could help you." Kevin seemed disappointed. "This could be our big break in this case."

Gwen sighed, "I guess I'll have to find some other way." She turned and left.

Kevin went about his business. He had been busy gathering leads and like Gwen, he was about to get a breakthrough. He walked out and drove to his mechanic shop; he had some things to fix before he went out to investigate more.

Ben Tennyson headed to the side of town. He was tracking down Alfie "Fredo" Tisner. He had heard of the drug dealer and he'd been able to spy on him for awhile. He'd been let off school to investigate.

After following Afie around for a few hours, he left him and decided to meet Gwen.

Gwen was at school and since classes were over, she went over to her locker and pulled out her backpack to put her textbooks away.

Gwen stared into her backpack in shock. Inside was a hundred dollars exactly. It was the amount that she needed to buy the drugs from Davis MacCullen. How had she gotten this money? She didn't know, but she saw a note near the cash.

"_I know what you're doing and I know why, use the money, courtesy of me," –Red Hood_

"How does he know what I needed?" Gwen asked herself. "I never even told him my name!"

She was going to meet Ben and Kevin later that evening. Ben and Gwen were standing next to each other when a man landed on the car across the street from them. Kevin had been on the other side of town, making contact with old acquaintances to gather clues about the mysterious Jack White.

"Hello you two!" the voice greeted. It almost sounded friendly.

"It's him!" Gwen growled, glaring at him.

"You must be the Red Hood," Ben said sternly. "I'm not going to let you run around and do whatever you want."

"That's strange coming from the guy who has threatened to kill his enemies. I'm a lot like you, but the difference is I do what you can't, because you've never actually killed somebody have you?"

Ben visibly flinched. It was true; he had never actually killed any of his enemies before.

"They call you the Savior of the Universe, I wonder if you can save yourself from me," Red Hood aimed his guns at Ben, but stopped after a moment.

"That won't work on you will it?" Red Hood asked. He holstered his guns. He removed the Kris he carried and flourished it. "Let's have some fun!"

"Not this time Red Hood!" Gwen moved to attack him.

"Sorry baby, but you'll have to sit this one out!" Red Hood threw up a grapple hook and tied her around her midsection so she couldn't move.

"Get this off me!" she shouted.

Red Hood attacked Ben, the teenage hero. Ben kicked the man and executed a flurry of punches. The Red Hood was impressed. The boy's fighting style was different from the others, he didn't practice or train in any particular martial arts, but he was a competent hand to hand combatant.

Free form combat that was something he hadn't encountered in awhile.

Ben kicked and punched with a force and fury that surprised the Red Hood. He transformed into Rath and began screaming.

"Let me tell you somethin' Hoodie, I'm gonna take that silly helmet and flatten it into my own personal Frisbee! Your silly little knife is gonna be my toothpick!"

Rath slammed the Red Hood into the nearest wall, the man flipped back and landed on his feet. Gwen tried to break her bonds but she could not.

Rath ran towards him and picked up a car and threw it at him, Red Hood managed to jump through the car and somersaulted, slamming his booted feet into Rath's face.

"You shouldn't have done that Hoodie, now Rath is angry, and it hasn't been my day today anyway!"

Rath charged forward and slashed at Red Hood, he cried out in pain as Rath managed to rip through the body armor and into his skin.

"That actually hurt Ben 10," he congratulated. "I'm having fun here, hopefully you can keep up."

"I'm just stalling, when Kevin gets here, you _will_ be stopped!" Ben snarled.

"Oho! That sounds fun!" Red Hood chuckled. "I look forward to fighting him too!" He head-butted Ben Tennyson and the teenager staggered back as he tried to regain his senses, but the hubris of the blow made him dizzy.

It was a hard battle, but Red Hood seemed to be enjoying himself. He couldn't believe that they could fight like this, he'd made a good decision picking a fight with them, it was so much fun, and they both had game, and he too enjoyed games, but he was having the best time playing with both of them.

He knew what was going on in the town and he'd take care of business very soon, but for now, toying with the local heroes was enough for him. He'd fought both of them and they'd both been competent, it was well worth his time to fight them, but he'd dragged out the fight long enough and he knew their friend was coming and he had somewhere else to be.

Ben transformed into Swampfire and shot out a stream of fire at him. The vigilante looked around as alien disappeared. Suddenly, vines shot up from the ground and grabbed a hold of him.

"Now I've got you!" Swampfire exclaimed.

"No, not really," Red Hood cut the vines with his knife. The pieces fell at his feet.

Ben transformed into Big Chill and it sprayed him with a stream of ice.

"You're kind of like Mr. Freeze, fighting you is really fun," Red Hood complimented. "Let's see how you handle this?"

Ben saw the man throw a flash bang grenade at him. Big Chill quickly used his power to become transparent and it passed through him. The grenade was ridiculously loud and bright, he could barely see.

"I can see your heat signature, even if you're invisible!" the man shouted.

Red Hood began to punch and kicked him across the face. Ben transformed into Goop and sunk down into the ground and sloshed toward the murderous vigilante. He seeped between his body armor and tried to restrain him.

"You're good Ben 10, but don't think I haven't figured out that your Anti-Gravity Projector that keeps your shape!"

Ben was stunned how did he know about the anti-gravity projector? This guy had apparently studied him; this wasn't going to be easy.

"Cannnonbolt!" Ben changed again, he barreled into Red Hood; the man flew back into the nearest wall. He attacked again and his enemy somersaulted and used complicated acrobatics to continually avoid Cannnonbolt only to be slugged in the face by Ben in his human form.

Ben began to reach for the masked face.

"You don't get to peek behind the curtain just yet," Red Hood scrambled to his feet, punching Ben hard. He saw that the Ultimatrix had run out of charge, leaving him in his human form. He'd been fighting for ten minutes and he was already exhausted.

"Kevin, get over here! I need your help, Red Hood showed up."

"_I'll be there in ten minutes!"_ Kevin shouted on the phone.

"Just get here soon!" Ben shouted. He avoided a kick by ducking down.

The vigilante pulled out his guns and fired them at Ben, but he managed to push the gun aside. The gun rang loudly in his ears like thunder and he began elbowing him in his masked face.

Ben managed to crack the mask and he thought he could see the man's face, but he couldn't see who it was.

Red Hood didn't want his identity revealed and he decided that he needed to run away and get out of there before Ben discovered who he was.

The fight continued as the vigilante took off running and climbed up a fire escape.

They continued to fight; Ben managed to perform a judo throw on Red Hood who moved quickly and punched him in the midsection. The blade in his hand moved quickly as he slashed at Ben, tearing up his shirt, leaving superficial wounds that stung horribly.

Ben remembered one of his cousin's moves and performed a high back kick. He hit the man in the head and he staggered back. Ben tackled the man and they both fell off the roof.

Red Hood drove his Kris into the wall, slowing his fall as Ben saw the Ultimatrix had recharged and turned into Goop so he could hit the pavement and not die.

Ben used his power to grip the man and pull him off of the wall.

"You know, for a guy who doesn't practice martial arts, you're not half bad!" Red Hood said. "And I've not been going easy on you."

"You'll be more impressed when I stop you!" Ben retorted.

"Why don't you just say "kill me"? It's not like you haven't made this threat before."

"I'm not like you; I don't like killing bad guys!"

"But it _is_ an option," Red Hood replied.

"Not one that I want to have."

"You don't have what it takes to stop what's going to happen to this city, but _I _do. Death will come to those who deserve death. Keep that in mind when everything goes to Hell."

"You know what's going on? Tell me everything now!"

"Sorry, that's not up to you."

Ben transformed into Humungousaur and began slamming his opponent into the wall. The large alien head-butted him and threw him through it and he hit the ground hard.

Ben tried to reach for the mask again, but he failed to grab it as the Red Hood moved so he couldn't grab the mask.

"You're just like your cousin, and you're just as fun as she is!" the man threw out a smoke grenade, "But I have other things to do tonight!"

He disappeared into thin air, Ben vainly searched for him.

Ben heard Kevin pull his car up nearby and Ben turned around.

"Ben!" Kevin shouted, looking concerned for his friend. "You're bleeding man!"

"It's superficial, Gwen's tied up over there, get it off her will you? I have to catch my breath," he was breathing heavily and leaning over with his hands on his knees.

"Gwen, are you all right?" Kevin asked.

"How could he get the drop on me?" Gwen berated herself. "Next time I'll be able to fight."

"Don't worry about it; I'm glad you're safe."

"Kevin, Red Hood said he knows what's going on," Ben told his friend. "We have to catch him so he can tell us what he knows."

"I'm sure we'll get answers soon," Kevin told them. "I heard that Davis McCullen does have some Chuckles, at least, that's what my old contacts say; I still haven't found who his supplier is."

"I'm trying to get some drugs from him, a…a concerned citizen said he would give me money for it."

"Who is it?" Kevin demanded.

"The Red Hood," she replied.

"Why would he give you money?" Ben asked.

"He's the only lead I've got and I refuse to use my own money."

"Just use it, at least it's not your money," Kevin told her. "Maybe this will be the lead that will give us a break in this case." Things weren't looking good, but maybe they'd get lucky.


	4. Baptism

**Baptism**

_Four Years ago…_

"You are _certain_ that the Pit _hasn't_ driven him mad?" her father's furious voice rang in her ears.

Talia remained calm. "It has not."

"Perhaps not tonight or even tomorrow. It could take weeks, months, _decades! _You have no _concept_ of the _power _you are trifling with!" He pointed a finger at his daughter, seething with rage at her deception.

"You searched long and hard for answers to the boy's resurrection. It seems not to be a _ruse_, or an act of _science_." He looked back at her.

He turned away from her, "This _Kevin Levin_ is an unknown entity. We do not know what _force_ has returned him from beyond. And _you_ have empowered him with the nature of the Pit."

"I have given him back his _life_," Talia shot back. Her father moved toward the door.

"No. You have _unleashed a pestilence_. I _live_ from the_ Pit_. And I _know _what burns in my heart."

_Present Day…_

Gwen had quietly searched for Kevin's death certificate; she couldn't find anything about him dying _anywhere_. Not in any alien database, nor anywhere on Earth, not even his DNA, it was like Kevin Levin did not exist.

She was feeling frustrated, there were no new leads and she hadn't had time to slip away from her school friends to see Davis McCullen. Her investigation into Kevin's death had hit a dead end, she couldn't even find where he'd been living, and even any indication he'd been in the Null Void had been mysteriously erased.

Gwen was heading out to Ben's car; they were going to meet Kevin at Mr. Smoothes and eat dinner together and then go search for more clues into Jack White.

A woman watched her leave and waited until she was half way to her cousin's car before approaching her.

"You should not pry any further into anything concerning Kevin Levin's past," a voice told her.

Gwen turned around to look at the speaker. Standing behind her was a stunningly beautiful woman, with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes.

"Who are you and how do you know about Kevin?" Gwen demanded.

"I know plenty of things about him," the woman replied. "If you know what's good for you, you'll leave it well enough alone."

"What interest do you have in Kevin, and how do you know that I know him?" Gwen demanded. Sure you could read up on their relationship on the internet, but this went far beyond the casual knowledge that people could learn about her through just looking up information. She did not make it public knowledge that Kevin had died, she hadn't even told _Ben_ because she wanted to find concrete proof of it first.

"You have no right to tell me what I do with my life!" Gwen snapped. She didn't normally get angry, but this woman had her on edge. "I'm looking into this because I need to know the truth."

"if you value your life, you should leave these stones unturned. His past is a danger for you, and you have caused him to diverge from his true path," the malice in the woman's voice was evident.

"You're not making any sense, but if you're threatening me, I will defend myself," Gwen didn't move but prepared to block any attack the woman might throw at her.

"Relax young Gwendolyn, I will not hurt you, but should you continue to research answers regarding Kevin, I cannot guarantee your safety."

"I guarantee _my own_ safety!" Gwen glared at her. "Just who _are_ you?"

"My name is Talia, that is all you need to know," Talia replied.

"Well Talia," Gwen already knew her name because Kevin had muttered it in his sleep, but she wasn't about to tell her that, "I will do what I have to, and I will find out the truth about Kevin, and nothing's going to stop me."

"Fierce and determined, and yet you care for him so much, perhaps that's why he loves you."

"This conversation's over," Gwen walked off.

"For now. After all, a hero's work is never done, I'll be seeing you again soon," Talia turned and walked away.

Gwen made a mental note to keep an eye out for that woman. She didn't like her one bit. And the fact that Kevin knew her seemed unsettling.

Gwen saw the brown eyed, brown haired Davis McCullen loitering outside of her school.

"Beautiful, it's so nice of you to come back, do you have what I need?" he asked, eagerly to get some of that precious green currency between his greedy fingers.

"I have a hundred dollars," Gwen handed him the money.

"Here's your Chuckles, enjoy," he tossed her a small bag.

"That's not a lot," she told him, looking disappointed. "I'll need a lot more."

"Give me a kiss…and maybe a little more than that, and I'll give you twice that much."

"You'll give it to me, and you won't complain or make me pay anything for it."

Davis pulled out a gun and pointed it at Gwen. She immediately reached up and forced him to push the gun away from her, twisting his wrist and forcing him to keep his gun hand by his leg as she repeatedly punched him with her other fist. She immediately reached down and placing her hand under the gun, and around the area where the trigger was, she twisted it out of his grasp, breaking his finger as she aimed his own weapon at him.

"You'll give me another bag, and don't think that this is for the drugs, there's something else going on here and I want information from you."

"What do you want to know?"

"You'll give me another bag, and don't think that this is for the drugs, there's something else going on here and I want information from you."

"What do you want to know?"

"What do you know about Jack White?"

"I've never hear the name before, but there were these clown guys hanging around the dock, every Thursday, at 11 at night. I'll do whatever you want, just don't shoot me!"

"Some tough guy you are, don't ever show your face around this school again!"

Davis McCullen took off running, Gwen backed up to her car, refusing to take her eyes off him.

"Dammit!" Davis swore. "That girl took my gun, I'm gonna find out where she lives and pay her a visit, stupid kid thinks she can play vigilante with me!"

"Hello again Davis," Red Hood greeted him again.

"Look man, I did what you said, I gave the girl what she wanted, I even told her what she wanted to know, now will you let me off the hook?"

"You tried to shoot her," Red Hood said, his voice cold and full of hatred.

"Look how that turned out, she broke my damn finger. Please just leave me alone."

"No, you've outlived your usefulness; it's time for me to kill you for being a pathetic piece of scum."

Red Hood took out a handgun and fired two bullets into Davis McCullen's skull and before he hit the pavement, he was dead.

"Everything's going just as planned," Red Hood said to himself. "Finally I'll get _him_ to come out."

Red Hood walked away, it was going to be a busy night.

Gwen headed over to Mr. Smoothes where she saw Kevin's car pulling up. He got out and walked over to her.

"I've got a lead, it's down by the docks, heard that the Chuckles is coming in tonight. Maybe we'll get lucky."

The three teens headed down to the dock. They found the familiar looking clown goons unloading large containers.

"C'mon boys, Joe Kur wants his shipment soon, says the party is about to start," a nameless thug told the others, "And we don't want to disappoint him, bad things happen when he's disappointed."

"Hate to bust up this party," Ben smirked, "But nobody ships drugs into my town without a fight."

The ensuing brawl stunned Gwen, who was using every bit of her martial arts training to fend off the thugs; they grabbed anything that could be used as a weapon.

Ben transformed into Swampfire, trapping thugs in his vines and holding them still as Gwen used her Mana to knock them out, all except for one that Ben caught in his human form as he tried to run away.

"Spill it Clowny, who is Joe Kur, tell me where I can find him!" Ben demanded.

"I can't tell you, he'll kill me, he's the Thin White Duke of Death, I don't want him to—" suddenly, something popped out from the man's chest and sprayed a gas into the man' face. Kevin pulled the two cousins away.

"Get back!" he ordered. The man began uncontrollably laughing and went into a terrible seizure, convulsing as he began foaming at the mouth. His lips pulled up into a horribly contorted smile and Ben shrugged off Kevin's hand and moved to the man, feeling for a pulse. The man was dead.

"_So sorry you had to go and spoil the fun, but you've ruined my surprise for the Alien Weirdo,"_ a voice spoke from a speaker.

Kevin felt his blood run cold, it was a voice he hadn't wanted to hear again, but he already knew who it was.

"Who are you?" Ben asked. He looked at the microphone.

"_Oh come on kid, I'm sure you've heard of me,"_ a hologram appeared in front of him as he saw a man standing before him in a suit, a purple suit with a flower joy buzzer and nice shoes.

Green hair and chalk white skin with a hideous Glasgow smile. _"I mean, who_ hasn't _heard of me?"_

Gwen gasped and stared in horror. She would never forget her cousin's reaction to the sight of the Joker; he didn't make any boastful comebacks or smart comments. No confident statement that he would stop him.

Ben Tennyson who had faced down some terrible, horrifying villains and had saved the world more than once let out a terrified, fear-filled scream as he fell back onto the ground.

"The Joker…Clown from Hell…Clown from Hell…Clown from Hell," Ben repeated the phrase over and over.

"What are you doing here, Joker?" she demanded.

"_I was bored, and I thought, "Joker, you haven't fought anybody new and interesting, lately." So I turn on the TV and boom, Will Harague is raving about some lame-o Ben 10, so I figured I'd pay him a visit. After all, you're not a _real _hero until you've beaten me. He should be honored that I want to throw a party in his town."_

"You're going to put something in the water supply to kill us all. We're going to stop you," Gwen said firmly. She did not have her cousin's fear of clowns, but after today, she might.

"_Oh will you look at Miss Confident over there, I like her. You're pretty smart, kinda like Batman. I'm gonna enjoy breaking your neck. But I'll kill your cousin first and maybe your brother if you has one." _

Gwen visibly shuddered. How anyone could live in Gotham City was beyond her, especially since that was his home turf.

"You aren't going to do that!" Kevin snarled.

"_Oh, wait a second, is that_ you? _You still running around in my hoodie pajamas? Well that just makes this _more_ fun, and with no Dork Knight to stop me, I'm going to run rampant all over this place, unless your Alien Weirdo can get up enough nerve to face me like a man. Well I'll be seeing all of you soon, if you don't mind my parting gift."_

Gwen looked down, she hadn't seen it before, but there was a bomb strapped to the goon's body!

"Get behind me!" she ordered and put up a shield around the three of them. The blast was so strong it broke her barriers. They all hit the ground and Kevin scrambled to his feet.

"Gwen!" he called to her. "Are you all right?"

"Yes…what about Ben?" she asked.

"I'm here," Ben got up. "I can't believe I froze like that. I should have at least put up a brave front."

"Tennyson, smart people see his face and run away," Kevin told him.

"I was caught off guard by a clown, a _clown_," Ben berated himself. "I overcame that fear a long time ago."

"Ben, Joker's not just some _clown_, he's the worst murderer in the history of the _world_," Gwen told him. "He makes Hitler look like a saint."

"That's not exactly a good metaphor is it?" Kevin added.

"What was that quip he made about hoodie pajamas for Kevin? He acted like he knew you." Ben looked at his best friend. He seemed the same as always.

"He must have mistaken me for someone else," Kevin told them.

"You've never did business with him when you were a criminal did you?" Gwen asked.

"Uh, _no_, anyone with a good brain in their skull knows to stay away from him. You could get rich because of him, but most likely you'll get dead."

"We should split up—" Ben began to suggest.

"Oh, no, he's after you, Ben, you by yourself isn't a good idea," Gwen gave him a hard look. "We'll go check the Bellwood reservoir and water plant for where chemicals are."

"I have been working on some leads, but I have to go, I have contacts in the criminal underground, since this is a pretty big deal, I'm sure that people have heard things. I'll be gone all evening, if you need me, call me."

Kevin got into his car and left, Ben headed over to his and Gwen got in the passenger door.

"Let's head to the reservoir," Gwen suggested. "It's the closest building. I'll get some samples and we'll use the Plumber's tech to test the water. At least we'll be able to tell if there's any of this chemical in the water."

"But one of the goons said that the stuff ignites in the air, and nobody has lit themselves on fire using the sink yet," Ben noted, "Let's hope we can find where they're storing the stuff. You said Red Hood shot the guys who had the chemicals, and blew up the building. We could have used it to try to figure out how to make an antidote."

"We've got a lot of work to do, I wish Kevin were here to help instead of chasing his own leads."

"Don't worry Gwen, Kevin does his own thing, and maybe he'll find out something we don't know."

"We better get started," Ben said as he drove to the reservoir; it was going to be a long evening.

* * *

><p>Kevin drove away from them, he knew that he would be busy investigating the Joker, he knew that someday this might happen, and he knew he was going to stop him, but first he had to go to his mechanics shop, he was going to need some things and he didn't have them on him at the moment, he'd buried too many secrets and held back in so many areas of his life.<p>

But now it was time to chase his past until he caught it, and Heaven help the bad guys who got in his way.


	5. Daedalus and Icarus

**Daedalus and Icarus **

_Two Years Ago…_

"_Enough! All of it ends tonight!"_ His mentor, no his adopted father's voice screamed in his ears as his feet slammed into Kevin's body. "_You say you want to save Gotham!"_

"_To kill a part of it so it can survive!"_ Kevin staggered back as he was viciously struck him in the face, blood sprayed from his mouth. "_You say you want to be better than me!"_ A viscous head-butt to the face. _"But that won't happen!"_

Kevin raised himself off the ground as the blood dripped from his face. Kevin pulled out a gun from the place he had put it and pointed it at the man he had once admired but now hated.

"_I know I failed you. But…I tried to save you Kevin. I'm…I'm trying to save you now."_

"_Is _that _what you think this is about?_ _That you let me die?"_ he asked, the domino mask on his face had partially fallen off, revealing part of his eyes. _"I don't know what clouds your judgment worse. Your guilt or your antiquated sense of morality."_

He looked at his father's masked face; the expression was grim and serious.

"_Bruce, I forgive you for not saving me," _Kevin told him, he looked at the imposing figure in front of him.

His adopted father, Batman, the great Dark Knight, bastard, hypocrite.

"_But why—why on God's Earth—is_ he _still alive?"_ Kevin kicked in a nearby door, revealing a badly beaten Joker, tied to a chair.

"_Woo hoo! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Now we've got ourselves a party! One big happy—all together again!"_ Joker exclaimed gleefully. _"Gotta give the boy points, he came all the way back from the dead to make this shindig happen!"_

"_Who's got a camera? Dracula, you must have a digital picy-poo on that hardware store you wear around your waist,"_ Joker couldn't help but be happy, it's not every day one of his murder victims came back from the grave to try to kill him and show up old Batsy.

"_Get one of me and the kid first. Then, you and me. Then the three of us. Then one with the crowbar."_

Kevin hit him across the face out of spite and rage, pointing the handgun at the Joker. _ "You'll be as quite as possible or I'll put one in your lap first."_

Joker just kept on grinning, _"Party pooper. No cake for you."_

"_Ignoring what he's done in the past, blindly,_ stupidly _disregarding the entire graveyards he's filled…the thousands who have suffered…the friends he's crippled…I thought…I thought by killing _me—_that I'd be the last person you'd ever let him hurt."_

Kevin did _not _rein in his emotions.He had to tell Bruce what he really felt._ "If he had been you he had beat to a bloody mass. If it was you he had left in agony. If he had taken_ you _from this world…I would have done nothing but search the planet for this pathetic pile of evil, death-worshipping garbage…and sent him off to Hell!"_

"_You don't understand. I don't think you've ever understood_," Batman looked at him.

"_What? Your moral code won't allow for that? It's too hard to 'cross that line'?"_ he asked.

"_No…_God _Almighty, no. It'd be too damned easy,"_ Batman looked at him. Kevin returned his gaze, so he did understand after all. He was just too cowardly to finish off his nemesis.

"_All I've_ ever_ wanted to do is kill him. For years, not a day has gone by where I've envisioned taking him…and spending an entire month putting him through the most horrendous, mind boggling forms of torture. All of it building to an end with him broken, butchered and maimed…pleading—_screaming—_in worst kind of agony as he careens into a monstrous death."_

"_Aw, y'see, I've thought about that too…"_ Joker piped up with a smile on his face.

"_I want him dead—maybe more than I've wanted anything. But if I allow myself to do that, if I allow myself to go down into that place. I'll never come back."_

"_Why?"_ Kevin asked him, he had to know the answer.

"_What?"_ Batman didn't seem to understand his question.

"_Why do all the cub scouts in spandex_ always_ say that? "If I cross the line there's not coming back?" I'm not talking about killing Cobblepot and Scarecrow or Clayface. Not Riddler or Dent…I'm talking about _him_. Just him. And doing it because…because he took me away from you._"

"_I can't,"_ Batman told him. _"I'm sorry. I just can't."_

"_That is_ so _sweet," _Joker said sarcastically. He was having too much fun here.

"_Well, you won't have a choice." _ Kevin bent down and scooted one of his handguns across the floor; it skidded to a stop at Bruce's feet.

"_This is it. This is the time you decide. If you won't kill this psychotic piece of filth…I _will_. You want to stop me? You're going to have to kill me. You're not going to wimp out on me like Tennyson and say that I'm not worth it."_

"_All you've got is a head-shot. I'm going to blow his addled, deranged brains out—and if you want to stop it…you're going to have to shoot_ me. _Right in my_ face!"

A single tear slipped down his cheek. If Bruce had _really_ loved him, he would have done whatever it took to avenge him. If Bruce had been killed instead, he would have made sure to make the Joker pay for it, and not let him live to kill others and destroy families and ruin lives.

"_This is turning out so much better than I thought…"_ Joker continued grinning. The fun was about to start. There was no way he was going to die tonight and if he got to kill Boy Blunder number two again, it'd be even better.

"_Stop this…"_ Bruce pleaded. He had tried so hard to help Kevin, he thought that making him Robin would help him be a better person; he had no idea how to help him through his emotional problems.

"_It's him or me. You have to decide."_

"_Please don't…"_

"_I'll count to 'three',"_ Kevin told him. He prepared to squeeze the trigger. Vengeance would be so sweet, and after this was over, he was going after Tennyson.

"Put the gun down," Bruce ordered. Kevin ignored him.

"_One."_

"_Don't."_

"_Two."_

"NO!" Kevin saw Batman's hand move, he'd thrown something.

A Batarang, but where was it going to go? It didn't matter anyway because Joker was going to die.

"_Thr—uck!"_ Kevin's voice was cut off as he felt searing pain slash across his shoulder, he could feel the blood spraying out of his neck as joker shoved him away, still smiling.

It was pathetic. His adopted father would rather hurt him than kill the Joker. They were all the same, self righteous fools who didn't understand him. He was going to save thousands of lives by offing one psychotic nut, it's not like before where he was trying to kill people to exploit them, he wanted to _save_ people, and this was how you did it.

He instinctively clutched at his neck, still on his knees.

"_Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! You_ got _him! You expert, rooting-tooting Goth marksman sonofabitch! Ya banked that Bata-thingie off the pipe." _Joker was absolutely giddy. "_Ha, ha, ha! Oh God, I love it! You managed to find a way to win…and everybody still loses!"_

Kevin had fallen over. He was trying to absorb material from the floor to staunch the bleeding. Bruce was just standing there doing nothing. The hypocrite.

"_Except me, my dark little pumpkin pies. I'm the one who's gonna get what he wants tonight! Badda bing, badda boom!"_

He grabbed one of Kevin's guns and aimed it at the C4 explosives Kevin had set up in order to blow up the Joker.

"_NO!" _Batman screamed. He was not about to have another repeat of this again. He had been too late to save Kevin once, and now it was happening a second time and there was nothing he could do.

"_Doncha just LOOOVE how this is all ending. Toodles," _Joker saluted. And then he fired the gun.

The explosion had sent Kevin falling into the Gotham Bay; he'd managed to stop the bleeding by absorbing the concrete and sealing the wound.

"KEEVVINN!" Bruce shouted repeatedly calling for him. Kevin didn't care and he didn't even give him a second thought.

Using the last of his strength he swam to shore. It was time he left Gotham City, he'd heard the Forever Knights were offering to buy Laser Lances and he was going to need more money. Once he'd recovered and got some extra cash, he was going to find Ben Tennyson, one failed revenge attempt wouldn't stop him, but this time he'd kill Tennyson, he'd make sure he'd do that. Tennyson wasn't nearly as difficult as Batman. Even if he didn't have his gadgets or weapons, he wouldn't be that difficult to deal with.

Boy he'd been wrong about that too, then she'd come back into his life, he'd been surprised that'd he'd become so attached to her. Perhaps it was because she wasn't as stuck-up and self righteous like Bruce was. She did have that no-kill rule, but it had saved his life, he understood a little better, but that didn't mean he agreed with her a hundred percent.

Gwen had changed him more than she knew, had he decided to play anti-hero vigilante before he'd been reunited with them, he would have enjoyed killing scumbags, now it felt more like a chore and he knew the weight of what he was doing, but sometimes, he couldn't take the moral high ground because he knew that sometimes you had to do whatever it took to save lives.

He didn't begrudge Ben's attempt to kill him when he had gone insane at the Forge of Creation, he had behaved the same way in Gotham City. It was amazing how they were so much alike.

Gwen was more like Bruce than she realized. She had his sensibilities when it came to right and wrong, she had his compassion, but she was not a selfish, my way or the highway when it came to how to solve problems, she understood his moral ambiguity, but she did not condone it, but she wasn't darkly obsessed with fighting criminals with the only drive in her life being fighting crime for the mere_ sake_ of fighting crime.

Starfire had once told Dick Grayson that Bruce was insane. Kevin didn't disagree with her either, perhaps they were all crazy, but he knew that sometimes criminals can't be changed. He had made a career out of it, but he'd been lucky, he had actually _wanted_ to change, most criminals didn't.

Kevin snapped out of his reverie. It was time to go to work.

Making his way over to the wall, he pushed a hidden button in the wall of the mechanic shop that he secretly owned, he worked there, but he had bought the building under a false name.

He made his way down a set of stairs to a vast room filled with weapons, high grade military arms, earth's finest guns, plenty of illegal alien tech he had confiscated from Plumber missions, explosives and various gadgets to aid him in his battles.

He slipped out of his jeans and put on a pair of gray pants; he put on his steel-toed boots, and slipped into his Kevlar body armor. He put on a gray shirt over the armor and slipped on the black leather jacket.

He picked up a pair of handguns and tucked them into the holsters; he removed a Kris from the drawer and put the ornate blade into a sheath on his utility belt. It was going to be hard, he'd been trying to track the Joker's location in Bellwood, but clues were scanty and people weren't talking.

Kevin placed the red domino mask over his eyes and fitted the red helmet snugly around his head.

"Time to go out," he told himself. "It's going to be a long night."

For Kevin Levin, the night was barely finished, and the Red Hood ready to go to work, he didn't have much time, and he'd promised himself that Bellwood wouldn't experience the terror that Gotham's citizens experienced so often when it came to being at the Joker's mercy. Besides, he knew for a fact that _he _was no doubt on his way to stop the madman, and Kevin wasn't particularly looking forward to a reunion with Bruce.

Being with the Tennysons had given him a new outlook on life; he decided he was going to leave his troubled past behind him. So he did the impossible, he suppressed his skills, hiding all the training from Batman, he still got hurt in fights, but he didn't want to show off too much, drawing unwanted attention to himself was out of the question. Max Tennyson had glimpsed just a fraction of his skills when he had easily read the crime scene they had visited, but Kevin always held back in fights, relying on his powers rather than his martial arts.

He had been educated by Bruce, but his education had only gone through middle school, so he did have to learn from Gwen, but when it came to weapons and martial arts and even foreign languages, he still maintained his training, although he had held back when it came to his marksmanship in Plumber basic training as to keep it hidden concerning how good he actually was.

He'd put away the dress-up for a long time, mostly because he truly enjoyed his life as a hero, but he'd heard disturbing stories about something big that was going to happen in Bellwood, so he'd spread rumors about the Red Hood before he'd purchased everything he needed in his renewed crusade against criminal scumbags that ravaged the city.

He had money. Millions of dollars under various accounts under fake names he used. He had nowhere near the wealth of Bruce Wayne, but if Ben knew how much money he had he would freak. He had never viewed himself as one of those rich kids from Gwen's prep school because none of the money was "fun money". No large house, boats or fancy cars. It was all for the war he waged, the war he had set aside for a normal, simpler life with the two of them. But that life he had was them was threatened, and he wasn't about to lose them, just like he had lost his life to the Joker.

But he wanted to find Joker before _he_ did, so Kevin knew he had a lot of work to do. He'd long given up on trying to kill the Joker, but beating the living crap out of him would be the closest thing to it. Not to mention it would give him a great sense of satisfaction.

Kevin knew he should tell Ben and Gwen about what he'd been doing, but he didn't want them involved but what they didn't know didn't hurt them. Besides, he enjoyed the thrill of the chase he got from them trying to find him; he always came up with alibis that would always make it so that he would be gone. They hadn't become suspicious yet.

And when _she_ fought him, Kevin felt the shiver go down his spine. Gwen's rage was something that surprised him. But she had used all her skills and had fought him to a standstill. It had been a glorious and beautiful thing. He'd seen her fight before, and he had overpowered her once, but it had all been a part of her plan to get him back to normal, but this time she didn't know it was him behind the mask and she hadn't held back, and the rush he'd gotten was the most wonderful thing he'd felt in a long time. He'd tell her the truth soon, right after this was over.

First he had to track down where the Joker's goons were hiding the chemicals.


	6. The Man Who Laughs

**The Man Who Laughs**

Zombozo had heard stories, stories about another clown invading his town. Everyone in the criminal underworld said it was the notorious Joker. But Zombozo didn't believe it for one second.

"A bigshot like him wouldn't bother with this dump of a town, but still, if he's really here, maybe he'll kill Ben 10 for me."

Finding the Joker was surprisingly easy, if you were a villain, because many of the average mooks wanted the pay he was offering.

One of them looked at him, "You're lucky; Joker said he wanted to meet you."

"Really, I'm flattered," Zombozo walked in with a swagger and confidence, hoping that Joker would cut him in on his plans for Ben 10.

He could see the criminal in an expensive purple suit and a joy buzzer. His green hair and pale skin were creepy enough, but the Glasgow smile on his face was even more unsettling.

"So you're Zombozo," Joker greeted him dismissively.

"I'm flattered you wanted to meet me," Zombozo replied, trying to play it cool.

"Don't be, I just wanted to see the guy who claims to be the Alien Weirdo's nemesis. I thought that title belonged to some octopus face named Vilgax."

"I used my Psyclown machine to suck the life out of my audience, and I almost got Ben 10 too!" Zombozo tried to make it sound more impressive than it actually was.

"But he beat you," Joker replied.

"Well, yeah."

"Is that supposed to be impressive?" Joker scowled.

"What do you mean by that?" Zombozo asked. "I have quite a notorious criminal career; I'm a nemesis of the Alien Hero. I even tried to kill Ben's mother, but his stupid cousin stopped me!"

"You think you're a villain?" Joker screamed. "You suck the laughter out of people, fat boy. I send people to the Funhouse in the Sky. When ol' Saint Peter asks sad sacks how they got there, they say, "Joker sent me with a smile on my face!" I fill entire graveyards! You tried to kill a woman and got scared off by a little girl! You're pathetic, and I refuse to let a cheap knockoff wannabe Joker steal my thunder!"

Zombozo tried to fight, using all his gadgets.

He used his Seltzer first; he began spraying it at the Joker straight into the homicidal maniac's face, right in his mouth.

To Zombozo's shock, the Joker actually started drinking the acidic Seltzer that could split trees in half.

"You should be screaming in pain!" he shouted. "Why aren't you dead yet?"

"I've been shot in the face, dropped off a great height and been beaten up by more than any normal human being, I swear I've died quite a bit and yet I'm not dead. Your little Seltzer acid is a cakewalk."

Joker pressed the flower on his suit and sprayed his own acidic formula at his counterpart.

Zombozo managed to avoid it, but the Joker removed three playing cards and launched them at him. Zombozo tried to dodge them, but one of them sliced his shoulder open.

The Joker was suddenly hit by Zombozo's giant extending arm. He flew back and landed on the ground. He used his steel streamers to tie up the Joker.

"You're not that tough Joker, I wonder what makes you so famous, you're no challenge at all."

"Heheheheheheh!" Joker began to laugh. "You think you're all that? I'm letting you do this to me because _I'm the one having fun_!"

"What?" Zombozo shrieked.

Joker suddenly stood up and with a strength that Zombozo could only describe as inhuman, he snapped the steel streamers, and stepped forward, punching and kicking him in the face as the Clown Prince of Crime sprayed him with his notoriously infamous Joker Gas.

Panic overtook him and Zombozo grabbed his hammer and tried to fight him off so he could get away.

Joker wrenched the hammer from Zombozo and began beating him with it, repeatedly pounding his skull over and over again. Blood began to splatter on the walls and covered Zombozo's face.

"Hahahahaha!" He howled. "Now this is funny! Come on Fat Boy, who's the real funny man around here?"

"Stop! Stop!" Zombozo shouted. Joker didn't listen. He continued beating him until his face started to bleed.

"Now, what to do first," Joker began. He seemed thoughtful. "Do I cut out your tongue; do I shoot you in the head? It's all so interesting!"

"Please, please, I don't want to die."

"Says you and everyone else in the world!" Joker cackled.

Joker took out a gun and aimed it. Zombozo winced and prepared to die. He looked up and saw the BANG flag as Joker fired the gun.

"Phew!" Zombozo breathed a sigh of relief.

"No, not relief, just death, and a mighty entertaining one at that!" Joker smiled as he produced a small knife.

"What are you doing?" Zombozo asked fearfully.

"What do you think I'm going to do?" Joker asked.

"No! No! _NOOO!_" The clown started shrieking and screaming and wouldn't stop.

Joker began to laugh as he moved the knife toward Zombozo's eyes. He wondered how long the clown would survive all the things he planned to do to him. He had a feeling it wouldn't be very long though.

_Later…_

Joker was making the finishing touches to his plans. Everything was almost ready and his glorious plan was proceeding as he'd envisioned, but he was almost bored, where was Batsy? Or this Ben 10 fellow? Sure the Red Hood was there, but it wasn't the same, at least the flying rodent brought a challenge to the table, unafraid and determined to stop him. That's what made the games so fun.

Ben 10 had actually freaked out. The so-called Savior of the Universe was scared of clowns. It should have been funny, but he didn't find it to be funny at all.

The henchman ran into the room. "Boss, we got trouble, Ben 10's here!"

Ben and Gwen were simultaneously taking out the armed thugs. Kevin was across town, foiling a bank robbery. They had just finished knocking out the final goon when Joker opened the door and stepped out in a grand fashion.

"Well, well, the Alien Weirdo himself, I'm honored. Ben 10, it's nice to meet you!" the man said. Ben swore the face he was looking at was Zombozo's, but the voice wasn't.

"Ben, that's not Zombozo," Gwen warned.

"What?" Ben asked.

"You don't like my mask?" the Joker asked. He began peeling off the "mask" he was wearing. Ben began visibly shaking, he saw skin. Human skin and dried blood. That wasn't a Zombozo mask, it was Zombozo's _face_.

"Now you know what you're dealing with," Joker taunted. "Do you still think you can stop me?"

"I might die trying, but I sure am going to try!" Ben slapped the Ultimatrix and turned into Humungousaur.

The Joker smiled. "Ooh, big dinosaur, fun, fun, fun!"

Humungousaur attacked the Joker. He began punching Joker, he blocked his punches and immediately began slamming his knee into Humungousaur's face over and over.

"That's the problem with you hero types, you people always underestimate me!"

Ben felt pain shoot through his groin as Joker's knee connected with his body. He didn't even think that he could be _hit_ there. Ben doubled over in pain as electricity jolted through him from an electric joybuzzer. The pain was too much. Joker began to pistol whip him across the face.

Gwen tried to run to him but she couldn't as several thugs grabbed her and began beating her in the face and kicking her.

Ben was overwhelmed by the group of thugs, they pinned Gwen's arms behind her back and tied her up.

They grabbed Ben and kept beating him until he could no longer use the Ultimatrix as they kicked him and beat him.

They tied him up as well. Ben stared at the Joker defiantly. "You're not going to get away with this!"

"Oh I will, and then I'll do what I want with this town."

"The only way you'll be able to do that is if you kill me!" Ben shouted.

Joker smirked at the Alien Hero. "You think I'm gonna kill you?"

He began to laugh, "No, you're not going to die yet. I'm not really here for you. I'm here for _him_."

"Him, what do you mean by him?" Ben asked.

"I'm talking about the Red Hood," Joker stated gleefully. "It was so fun, the last time I saw him. I can't wait for him to come here; it will be quite the party."

'Why would you want to kill a guy whose killing criminals?" Ben asked.

"We have a history, he and I; you could call it a vendetta."

"I'm looking forward to our reunion, but I'm happy to give you both a front row seats to his death."

Joker turned to his thugs. "Don't let anyone come in here, shoot anyone you see."

"Got it boss," the mook replied.

"Good, I'm going to take care of some business, if Hoodie shows up, kill him."

"What about the girl?" the mook asked.

"What about her?" Joker replied.

"We all…could have a little fun with her while you're gone."

"Don't be stupid!" the homicidal maniac snapped. "You're not dealing with Batman. If he were here and you raped the girl, he'd put you in the hospital for six months, rape the girl and Red Hood will kill you, in a very horrible fashion, probably much like I would. Leave the girl alone, it's not worth it, because I'd kill you, and it wouldn't even be funny."

"But boss, you've raped girls before, didn't you rape that Barbara Gordon chick?"

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't, but when it comes to Barbara Gordon, all I did was shoot her in the back and strip her naked, and take pictures to mindscrew with Jimbo's head. I'm sick and demented, but I only do things if it's _funny_, rape is not funny, not to me anyway."

Gwen visibly shuddered at his words and how casual he was talking about shooting a girl in the back and taking naked pictures of her; she hoped this Barbara was all right somewhere.

Kevin Levin had slipped into the room, quietly listened to the activity in the room. This was his chance; he knew he could stop the Joker. But he had Gwen and Ben to think about.

He'd have to stealth his way through these guys. He stayed in the shadows, waiting for his chance. He saw the men spread out and begin patrolling the room.

He'd have to use all his skill taught to him by Batman to rescue Ben and Gwen out of here. Normally, he'd go in guns blazing, but he didn't want to accidentally shoot Ben or Gwen.

This wasn't the first time he'd done this, but it was far more complicated now that his best friend and his girlfriend were in the room.

_Consider yourself lucky Joker, if you had even touched Gwen, I wouldn't have hesitated to kill you. If only it were two years ago, I would have given everything for a moment to kill you without Batman here to stop me. But things are much different now; at least I know they won't touch Gwen._

_There are only ten guys, not much trouble._ Kevin remained thoughtful. _I could use my guns, but I don't want them to hear me._

Kevin used a grapple hook to pull himself up onto a high ledge. He spotted one of the mooks headed in his direction; he was separated from the main group.

He removed a sharp shuriken from his utility belt and aimed it at the mooks head. He knocked him unconscious and he hit the floor as Kevin jumped down and used his Kris to slit his throat. He wouldn't kill all of them; he needed one of them alive to tell him where the chemicals were.

He grappled to the other side of the room and ducked down into a grate that was there. Kevin heard the men chatting nervously.

"One of our guys is dead! The Red Hood is here!" They began looking around.

"What killed him?" Ben asked.

"I thought they said something about the Red Hood."

"But how would he know where we are? And more importantly, why would he rescue us?"

"I'm not sure, but if he helps us out, then it's better."

"I can telepathically contact Kevin; we don't need the Red Hood."

"That would be better I think," Ben nodded.

_Kevin, come and get us, we've been captured by the Joker._

_I'm in the middle of a fight now; I'll be here as soon as possible._

_Hurry, we don't know when he'll come back._

_I'll be there soon._

Ben looked at his cousin._  
><em>

_We could fight them off, Ben told her telepathically._

_We're both too tired and they'd kill us before I could get a shield up. We should rest, Kevin will be here soon.  
><em>

"Nine guys left, easy!" Kevin smirked.

Kevin waited until they left and got out of the grate, he spotted a large container and attached small explosives to the side and launched them at a small group of men; the crate threw the men into the wall and knocked him unconscious as Kevin ducked away. The other men found their friend and tried to wake him.

They began to search more frantically. They had found his former hiding spots with ease.

He turned around slowly and saw all eight of them staring at him, guns aimed at him.

"Well, it looks like you got me!" Red Hood smirked.

"Yeah, we got ya, and now we're gonna kill you!" the goons began to open fire.

Kevin somersaulted back and aimed his guns at them, shooting them through the skulls. Two dropped dead. Seven left. Kevin slammed his elbow into the man behind him, jabbed the man in front of him in the throat as he kicked the man beside him. Four left. He used the wall to propel him into another mook as he shot one of them through the heart. Two left. He quickly removed his Kris and threw it into another man as he knocked the final mook out with the butt of his gun.

Kevin walked over to them, "Well, I'm not surprised."

Ben smirked. "You gonna gloat?"

"No, not now," Red Hood told them. "It seems your third wheel is busy. I suppose I'll have to help you out."

"We don't need your help!" Ben retorted.

"And it was working _so_ well," Red Hood said sarcastically.

"What did you do to Kevin? Gwen demanded, gripping the Red Hood by his shirt.

"Nothing," Red Hood stated calmly, "Absolutely nothing. Your friend is perfectly fine."

"Where is he?" Ben demanded.

"He's busy," Red Hood replied.

Kevin quickly cut the ropes tying them up and they climbed to their feet. He walked over and picked up one of the surviving mooks off the floor.

"So, where's the chemicals?" Red Hood demanded.

"I ain't telling you nothing!" the mook shouted.

"So, about your fingers…" Red Hood said, gripping the man's hands.

"What about them?" he retorted.

"I'm wondering about how many you still want to use after tonight," Red Hood stated calmly.

"What do you mean?" the mook sounded terrified.

"I'm going to break your fingers, and I'll be generous, I'm not going to cut them off."

The Red Hood broke the first finger.

"Please! Please stop! I'll tell you what you want to know, just stop!"

"Where's the chemicals?" Red Hood repeated.

They're in the amusement park! In the funhouse I swear to God!"

"Good of you to tell me," Kevin removed his Kris and slit the man's throat as Gwen let out a horrified shriek.

"Red Hood, you didn't have to do that! Ben shouted. "We could have used him to get more information!"

Kevin let them see the smirk beneath his partially broken mask, "He wouldn't have been anymore help to us. All these scumbags deserve to die."

Ben looked at him. "Why would you rescue us?"

"Did you _really_ want him to kill you two?" Red Hood looked at him.

"No," Gwen told him.

"Then you should thank me," Kevin laughed, his mask had partially been shot off, below his mouth.

"Hood, what are you—?" Gwen protested as Kevin pressed his mouth to hers. Gwen pushed him away.

"Can't help it, I like pretty girls," he laughed.

"Consider yourselves lucky he didn't stick around," Kevin warned, "And Tennyson, if you're careless with him…_you'll die_. Don't make that mistake again."

He turned and left, using a smoke grenade to get away. They searched for him, but he was was utterly puzzled. "Ben what do we do?"

"I'm not sure. He's a lot like me, except I try not to kill people. I really don't know what to do. If he helps us stop Joker, then what will happen?"

"I have no idea," Gwen told her cousin.

"We'll just have to stop both of them."

Kevin came running in, looking around. 'What happened?"

"We found the Joker, he captured us, but Red Hood showed up and rescued us. Joker got away. Where have you been?"

"Looking all over for you," Kevin replied. "Are you all right Gwen?"

"I've got bruises but I'll live, Ben, you should rest."

"I was stupid and careless, I thought I could take him down like any other villain," Ben groaned. "I won't make that mistake again."

"Ben, we should call in Batman," Gwen told him.

Ben gave his cousin a funny look, "Like we can get him on the phone. "Oh, Batman, we got Joker in our city, come and help us." I wonder why he hasn't shown up already."

"I don't know, but maybe we could get someone who knows him, maybe that Nightwing or Red Robin or Robin or Batgirl. They all can't be too busy to give us a hand."

Kevin knew for a fact that Batman was busy dealing with the Court of Owls, Batgirl was dealing with Mirror and Robin was with Batman, Nightwing was busy and Red Robin was running around with the Teen Titans.

He couldn't tell them that of course, Kevin knew he'd have to take care of this himself. He'd stop the Joker, and keep Bellwood safe, all without Batman; he just hoped he'd get to the chemicals before Joker did.


	7. Under the Red Hood

**Under the Red Hood**

Ben and Gwen were in hot pursuit of the Red Hood, having found out there was a large shipment of heroin coming in, Ben knew he would try to kill the criminals. They had arrived and stopped the criminals just as the murderous vigilante got there. They had wanted to go after the Joker straight away, but Kevin insisted they rest up from their last encounter with him. They had to delay their attack one day.

"I'm not surprised you two showed up, I best be going! It's a nice night for a run!"

"I can catch him with Fasttrack!" Ben began to slap the Ultimatrix but realized it had timed out.

"Just save it until we can catch up to him and let it recharge!" Gwen told him.

Red hood made his way up onto a roof top and jumped clear across the street to the construction scaffolding below him, crashing through one of the higher scaffolds, he got to his feet and slammed his shoulder into a nearby board, causing it to fall like a ramp that he ran down. Gwen and Ben followed as Gwen created Manna platforms for them to run on, they ran down the makeshift ramp and continued pursuing their target.

Gwen formed a shuriken with her Manna and aimed for his legs; Red Hood turned to the left and ran into the construction area. He shoved his shoulder into loose wooden beams and grabbed a canister filed with flammable liquid. He took it and jumped out of the opening; he turned around and tossed it up, shooting it.

Gwen and Ben managed to stop as she shielded them from the explosion.

Red Hood leapt out onto another building, somersaulting to keep his momentum going. Ben and Gwen followed, without the fancy acrobatics. He jumped up and vaulted over a security gate fence; he jumped over onto another rooftop and began climbing up a ladder.

Gwen formed her Manna into a whip and grabbed his leg. Red Hood suddenly turned around and used his Kris to slice the energy off his leg. Where did he learn to do that?

But Gwen's mind wasn't really thinking about what was going on right in front of her, she was dwelling on a nightmare that wouldn't go away.

_The dream that she had earlier that night had disturbed her. She was with Kevin. Suddenly the Red Hood appeared._

"_What are you doing here?" Kevin asked._

"_I'm here to kill you because you're a criminal," the Red Hood replied._

"_I haven't been a criminal for a long time; you don't need to come after me."_

"_You and the girl deserve to die, she's your accomplice."_

"_Gwen had nothing to do with any of my activities, you stay away from her!" Kevin prepared to fight. _

_Red Hood suddenly whipped out a crowbar and began beating Kevin with it. Kevin was pretty tough, but he couldn't remained focused long enough to absorb matter to protect himself._

_The vigilante kept punching him and kicking him, kneeing Kevin in the stomach and pistol whipping him in the face. Kevin collapsed onto the _

"_Up Levin, this is the part where you try to stop me and I beat the hell out of you!" Red Hood struck Kevin with the crowbar, over and over, Kevin tried to fight back, but he couldn't absorb the matter fast enough to shield himself from the attack._

_Gwen rush to his side, punching and kicking the Red Hood, but she could never keep up with his brutal attack, he even kicked her in the groin which was incredibly painful. He was simultaneously punching and kicking both of them, overpowering them as they tried to counterattack._

"_Red Hood, please stop!" Gwen begged; the tears in her eyes. "Don't kill him! He's not a criminal anymore, please!"_

"_Like I care if this scum dies!" Red Hood sneered and shot Kevin in the head. _

_Gwen tried desperately to turn into her full Anodite form, but she didn't have any strength. In a rage, she shouted at him, "I won't let you get away with this!"_

_she was about to attack him when she found she couldn't move._

_"That's _really _not up to you,"_ Red Hood told her.

_"I'm full of surprises!"_ _Gwen snapped._

_"You're not the only one…I'm not sure if it's my speed or the sharpness of the blade…but most don't even _feel_ it go in."_

_Gwen saw to her horror that he had pinned her to the wall with the knife he carried, she tried to pull it out, but it wasn't moving and the pain was too much for her to bear.  
><em>

_"That blade's not coming out of that wall, not at the angle you're at. Choice time. I can pull that out and you can run away as fast as you can. Or I can pull that blade down all the way from your shoulder to your hip. It'll hurt like fire for fifteen minutes, then you'll be dead from blood loss."_

_Red Hood removed the blade from her shoulder and held it up against her throat. _

"_You don't have to be sad about this, at least you'll get to be with your precious Kevin again." She felt the searing pain of the knife slicing the skin on her neck and felt the blood oozing out. She was dying, she was dying and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She was completely innocent and this monster was murdering her for no reason—_

Gwen awoke with a start, the terror on her face as she clutched at her neck.

She made her way to Kevin's garage and walked in. Kevin noticed how upset she was and immediately dropped what he was doing.

"Gwen, what's wrong?"

"I had a horrible nightmare, Kevin. The Red Hood murdered us."

"That's not going to happen, I promise you!" Kevin moved and held her in his arms. "I'd never let him do that to you."

He'd never use his alter ego to hurt her, she was terrified of him, he knew he should tell her the truth, but he knew she was upset now; she wasn't ready to hear it.

"Shhh, shhh," he soothed, "Everything will be all right, it was just a dream."

* * *

><p>Gwen's mind snapped out of her reverie and she continued to run after the Red Hood, Kevin was across town, tracking down the exact location of the Joker's chemicals. He said he would send them the location and meet them There.<p>

Red Hood ran toward another building and ran straight down the wall and crashed through the glass of the building below.

"Where are we?" Ben asked.

"How did you brats find me here?" the Joker shouted as he stepped into view.

"You led us into a trap!" Ben shouted at Red Hood, who stepped forward, facing the Joker.

"No, I led you guys to his location," Red Hood smirked.

Ben attacked him, transforming into Humungousaur as the Joker sprayed him with Joker Venom straight in the face, he got a good lungful of it, Gwen was trying to pull her cousin away, but being rather large, he was nearly impossible to move, she inhaled a green gas, she already knew what it was, she had to get them away.

Ben transformed back into normal and collapsed as they both began to laugh.

The pain was so bad Gwen wanted to scream, but her body was unable to, all she could do was laugh and laugh, it was a nightmare. This was how she and Ben were going to die, painfully, laughing hysterically, unable to escape, breathing their last in excruciating agony.

She had to wonder how long it would take for her to die.

She saw the Red Hood running toward her. The Joker cackled.

"Listen Hoodie, you can stop me or save them, take your pick!" the maniac took off running. Red Hood didn't hesitate to scoop her up in his arms as he summoned a car to his location, she thought it was Kevin's car, but she must be seeing things. He put Ben in the back, and made her sit in front of him as they drove as fast as he could.

"Don't die on me! Please don't die on me!" Red Hood told the two of them as he pulled into an abandoned warehouse. He carried them inside and placed them on medical beds, he quickly grabbed two syringes and found their veins, injecting them with an antidote. He had been making some to give the both of them, he just hadn't been able to slip it to them without being noticed.

Gwen passed out from exhaustion and Ben soon followed her.

After what seemed like hours, Ben woke up. He looked around and saw the Red Hood sitting by his bed.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You were given Joker Venom, I gave you an antidote, you should be grateful I saved your lives."

"Why did you save us?" Ben demanded. "We've done nothing but try to catch you. And yet, here we are in your secret base, and we're not dead from Joker Venom. Why would you do that?"

"Because you are my friends," Red Hood told him. He pushed a button and slowly removed his mask. "I would do anything, even _kill_, to protect the both of you. If he murders the two of you, I would never come back from that."

Ben stared at the man with a mixture of both awe and horror. The face that stared back at him was the face of Kevin Levin.

Gwen wasn't in the same room with him. She was asleep elsewhere.

"Kevin, how could you? How could you kill criminals like that?" Ben demanded. "You slit a guy's throat in front of us!"

"Now Tennyson, don't try to act all self righteous when _you_ did try to kill _me _when I went crazy. That would be hypocritical."

Kevin crossed his arms. "I'm doing this to protect both of you. Despite what you keep saying about being able to kill your enemies, I know you _can't_. So I will, you've got the whole world watching you, if you did something like that they'd never let you forget it. I'll cross those lines so you won't have to."

"But why?" Ben asked.

"Because the Joker _murdered_ me, Tennyson, he killed me in cold blood and when I came back from the dead I tried to kill him, but Batman stopped me."

But how is that possible?" Ben asked. "When I met you again you seemed just fine to me, and why would you hide something like this from me, your best friend?"

"Because my past is something that I don't like to talk about," Kevin looked at Ben. "Before we were reunited I lived in Gotham City, boosting tires to earn money. One day, I hit the jackpot; I knew that if I boosted these tires I'd be set for a long time."

"Why would tires be important?" Ben asked.

"Because they were Batman's," Kevin looked at his friend's disbelief.

He told Ben everything, becoming Robin, his work, trying to be a hero, saving people, he told him about Deacon Blackfire and Felipe Garzonas. He told him about his brutal murder and that he had come back to life, and of his quest for vengeance. When he was finished, Ben looked at him.

"You have to tell Gwen," Ben met his gaze harshly. "You can't hide this from her. It's bad enough what you've done, but hiding this from her is something I can't allow."

"I know," Kevin sighed. "Go get some sleep Tennyson; you need it so that the anti venom can kick in."

"But what about the Joker?" Ben asked, worried.

"Don't worry about him, this was never about you, it's about me," Kevin looked at him. "He'll only make his move when he wants to."

"Kevin, you know sometimes I make threats—"

"Yeah, but you're not a killer. It's a lot harder when you see someone kill a guy than when you say it's something you're going to do. It may be morally wrong, but sometimes you have to do a great wrong in order to do a great right, and that's something a lot of you don't understand."

Kevin got to his feet and walked away. He picked up his mask and put it back on. He saw Gwen sitting on the bed; she looked up as he entered the room.

"Where am I?" Gwen demanded.

"My safe house, you were dosed with Joker Venom, I gave you an antidote, you need to rest, you'll be fine now."

"Where is Kevin?" Gwen asked. "Why wasn't he here with me? When I need him most, he disappears."

"I'm right here Gwen, I'm right here. I've been with you the entire time," Kevin removed the mask and her eyes widened as she saw his eyes covered by a red domino mask.

"You've been taking the law into your own hands! You've been killing criminals!" Gwen was horrified.

"I'm doing it because I don't have any other choice," he told her.

"But you know what it's like to die! When Charmcaster murdered us, you know what it's like to have the life leave your eyes, how could you do that to other people?"

'Because they deserve it," Kevin looked at her. "Yes, it's true; I know what it's like to die. I've died twice now and death means nothing to me, all it did was slow me down a little."

"So you really were murdered by someone," Gwen's gaze was unfaltering.

"You found Talia's letter she wrote me," Kevin gestured with his hands.

"Who is she? I met her, she said she knew you."

"She does, do your best to stay away from her."

"Do Lazarus Pits exist?"

"Yes."

"And Talia used one on you."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"She wanted to give me back to my father."

"Your birth father is dead."

"Not my real father. My adopted father is Batman."

"Batman. Really? Can you prove that?"

"My DNA does not exist on this planet, I am not registered anywhere and no one knows that I died, my death has been hidden from anyone who tries to look into it and I know where Batman gets his money and gadgets an d I know how he works and who he is. I can speak multiple languages fluently and I am a master martial artist and acrobat. I also know the identities of many famous heroes from the Teen Titans to Green Arrow and Superman, as well as Batman."

"Why would you know all that?"

"Because I was Robin for a year. I know all his secrets. Do you take that at face value or would you like to fight me and find out?" Kevin asked.

"I fought you already," Gwen reminded him. "You were better than me. I believe you."

"I know. What else do you want to know?"

"Who murdered you?" Gwen needed the answers.

"The Joker," Kevin met her gaze with a look that she couldn't describe. Her hand flew up to her mouth in horror.

"Beat me real bad with a crowbar, left me to die in a warehouse in Ethiopia. I went there looking for the woman I thought was my birth mother. She betrayed me to the Joker. Then I came back to life and I was little more than a vegetable. Talia found me living on the street and she took me in."

"Her father thought I was useless and decided to send me away, but Talia cared about me, and loved me, and she took me and threw me into the Lazarus Pit and gave me back my mind."

She told me, "You remain unavenged", so I set out to learn what I could, how to use weapons, make bombs, I was taught to kill, and I did so without one shred of remorse. I confronted Batman as Robin and tried to see if he had killed the Joker, I wanted to see some regret, I didn't. So I became a crime lord, I took over the drug business in Gotham and killed criminals and captured the Joker so I could kill him, but Batman stopped me. And he gave me this, in my final fight with him," Kevin showed her the large scar on his neck. "Defeated, I left Gotham City, and came back to Bellwood."

"Just how many people have you killed?" Gwen's voice was filled with terror.

"That I can remember, 60 give or take," Kevin told her in a very matter-of-fact voice.

"How do I know you won't snap and murder me?" Gwen asked. The nightmares she had about the Red Hood seemed to terrify her now that she knew Kevin was the one behind the mask.

"Gwen, you thought I'd kill you?" he asked. He moved closer to her, cupping her face in his gloved hand. "I'd never do that."

He wrapped his arms around her and held her against him. "I did all this to protect you. Those dreams you had are just dreams, I'm not a heartless monster!"

He pressed kisses to her lips. "I'm not going to hurt you; I told you that I wouldn't. You don't have anything to be afraid of, I promise."

"I just feel like I don't know you anymore Kevin, I don't know what to think," Gwen clutched him, trying to feel reassured that this was the Kevin Levin she'd know for two years, and not someone else that was masquerading as the young man she loved.

"I've always been who I am, what you see is what you get, Gwen. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I wanted to wait until this was over."

Kevin felt he should give her a better explanation of what he meant.

"I used to think that life was a game; that it was all just a big competition, but I don't think like that, not anymore."

"So you are like Ben, but your way of thinking is much different than his. Red Hood has only been active for a few weeks, if not a month; if I leave out all the things I heard you did in Gotham City. Why did you stop killing?"

"Because of the two of you. After Ben stopped me, and we became friends, I put aside the costumes and the gadgets, because I enjoy my life with you and Ben."

"And suppressing your skills you learned from Batman?" Gwen asked.

"Part of not getting noticed, honestly, I would have been happy if you both had never found out about this."

He paused for a moment.

"Now that I've told you everything, does it change the way you feel about me?" Kevin asked; his eyes never left hers.

"No, but I'm struggling to understand it all, the moral gray area is something that I find very hard to deal with, especially when it comes to what you're doing."

"Get some rest Gwen; you need to sleep so the antidote will have enough time to work."

Gwen tried to sleep, but it wouldn't come. There was too much on her mind, and she still wanted more answers from Kevin, and she wouldn't rest until she got them.


	8. Benediction

**Benediction**

"Kevin?" Gwen called to him as she saw him walk back into her room. Ben had left, insisting he had recovered and had gone out to look for the Joker again

Kevin placed a computer down on a desk and didn't say anything. Gwen saw Kevin, hard at work his hands flying across the keyboard of a laptop computer.

"Do you ever sleep?" she asked, he turned around to look at her.

"The most I get is two hours," he replied.

"In a night!" Gwen was shocked.

"In a week," he looked at her. "I'm used to it. Crime doesn't rest so I don't. And right now, we have more things to worry about than sleep."

"Who is Batman?"

"His secret identity, why should I tell you?" Kevin seemed amused.

"It's not like I'm going to tell anyone," Gwen looked at him.

"If I told you and then I decided to attack him, you'd try to warn him, wouldn't you?"

"I wouldn't let you do something like that! It's not even a funny joke!" Her glare was enough for him to wince.

"I'm kidding, but if you honestly must know, Batman is Bruce Wayne."

"The billionaire playboy, please, if someone's going to be Batman, it's not going to be him."

"That's _why _telling you the truth is ridiculous, because you don't believe it, I can prove it many times over."

"I can see he has the money to do it, but when does he have the time, I'm always hearing on TV that he's dating a famous celebrity every other week."

"A lie to keep the media guessing."

"And the martial arts?" Gwen continued.

"Years of training."

"His reputation as a detective?"

"Also, years of training."

"And his gadgets?"

"Come straight from prototypes used in Wayne Enterprises, Kord Industries, and Queen Industries."

"What does he know about Ben?"

"Everything that's known to the public, but he also knows things that only you'd know."

"That's easy because it's public. What does he know about me?" Gwen asked, still skeptical.

"He knows your grade point average, where you go to school, where you take martial arts and where you're planning to go to college; he also knows you're dating me, which doesn't make him too happy."

"He give you a lecture?" Gwen laughed.

"No, but he hasn't interfered because he knows you're a good influence on me. I just know he has too many things to worry about now to come and stop Joker himself, or he would be out there with Ben chasing that freak."

"How do I know once we catch Joker, you won't kill him?" Gwen's face was stern.

"Because killing him doesn't matter to me anymore, someone would just figure out a way to bring him back to life anyway. All I care about is stopping him before he can kill everyone in Bellwood."

"But we couldn't stop him! He took out Ben without even having to touch him! How are we supposed keep this from happening if we can't lay a hand on him!"

"It's not your fault; you guys haven't faced someone as unpredictable as the Joker before."

"I Know, Kevin, he's eight shades of crazy," Gwen said, half serious.

The serious look on her boyfriend's face surprised her; she was expecting him to make a joke.

"Do _not_ treat this lightly, and don't write him off as simply being _insane_. It's not that simple. He's _not_ like the others_. _He has no _code. _No _methodology. _No _goals_. You can't hope to _understand _him because his desires are _fluid_. They _change_. He can't be _predicted._ He can't be _reasoned _with_._"

"And if you're_ careless _with him_…you'll die_. Do you understand? It's something Bruce told me about him, and it's true, I know that better than anyone."

"Can Ben still beat him?"

"Yes, Ben can still beat him," Kevin smiled. "Joker's lost before and he'll lose again."

Gwen did not look very reassured.

"Gwen, we're going to be all right, I promise," Kevin told her.

Gwen unexpectedly fisted his shirt and pulled him close. Pressing her lips to his in a heated kiss. His eyes widened in surprise.

His mind traveled back to when he was fifteen years old. Talia Al Ghul, the daughter of Ra's Al Ghul had thrown him into the Lazarus Pit out of love for Bruce, hoping that if she returned him to his adopted father he would love her.

But they both knew that wouldn't happen. He had wanted revenge so badly; he had even rigged a bomb to explode on the car. He'd nearly gone through with it but he realized he wanted Bruce to know it was him, so he had set out to learn the darker arts from various teachers she supplied him with. He killed most of them, because many of them were scum, an assassin named Egon who trafficked children as sex toys, a surveillance expert who was a pedophile, a small arms expert who ran a smack ring filled with poison, a martial arts expert who had planned to murder her husband and children. Shurik Ivanko, a bombs expert who had been hired by the Ivgene Clan of Russian mobsters to set off bombs in London to make it look like a terrorist attack. He put down the reptiles, because they deserved it.

He knew Talia was stalling him, but it didn't matter. He'd found out from one of the gangsters that the Joker had planned to put chemicals in Gotham's water supply where the flames would spray out when people used their tap water. He'd found out where the Joker was and shot him in the leg. He had planned to pour gasoline on him and set him on fire, but he realized that he wanted Batman to _see_ the Joker die. So he had let him live.

He had confronted Talia about it. Talia had told him that Ra's Al Ghul was dead and that Batman had brought it about. She had told Kevin to punish him, punish him for all of them.

Talia had kissed him. They had sex in the hotel room; it had been a good experience from his point of view. He had always had a paternal relationship with her, but if he had to sleep with her to get something, he would do it. He hadn't given a crap that she looked like she was in her early to mid thirties, Bruce's age, and that he was 15 years old. She was actually much older, because of the Lazarus Pit she had extended her lifespan, so she could be several hundred years old for all he knew.

It wasn't about him loving her, he knew that. Kevin was having sex with her because he knew she needed a Bruce Wayne substitute, what he wanted from her were the connections she had, and the money to get his revenge.

Sex had been nice, but it was in no way special to him, he didn't really care about it, he wanted revenge and he'd do whatever it took to get it, even if it meant using his body to get people to do what he wanted.

Over the years he'd learned things about women, how to seduce them, how to win their confidence and steer them into the nearest bed. Sometimes he did it for the reason that he needed into a criminal organization. Other times he needed information out of them.

He'd never particularly enjoyed sex; it had been a pleasurable experience, but nothing memorable. He knew how to make it an unforgettable experience for the women he seduced because of techniques he learned, but they were just techniques, like martial arts or anything else he learned, there was no emotional attachment or significance to his encounters.

Kevin suppressed a sigh; he dearly wished that his first time had been with Gwen. He had nothing to give her, he was bitter that he had never found sex to be anything special or meaningful at all. The intimacy and closeness of his relationship with her just made the guilt worse.

He knew he could treat her like any other girl he'd flirted or slept with, but she was better than that. Gwen meant too much to him to just act like she was a casual hookup or using her to get what he wanted.

"You're not up to this, you need to sleep."

"Can't sleep that's why I'm up."

He couldn't bring himself to say anything.

"Kevin…" Gwen murmured in his ears.

"Yes?" he queried.

"I love you," her mouth found his again. "I need to know that everything's going to be fine."

"It will be, don't worry," he reassured her. His hands found their way around her waist and pulled her closer.

"I want you…" she whispered.

"You're…you're not the first person I've had sex with," he admitted with a sad look on his face.

He was startled she did not look surprised by this statement. "You don't think I know that you could have your fill of pretty girls. Any girl would want you."

"But there have been so many, every time I had sex, I'd lie to these girls, told them I loved them, told them that they meant something to me. I told them whatever they wanted to hear so they'd sleep with me. I said it so many times and it didn't matter to me, and now that I know you, I don't feel I can honestly tell you how I feel about you. The words "I love you" are easy when you don't mean it. It's something I can't bring myself to say when I do."

The guilty look on his face was genuine.

"Kevin, there is no way you could lie to me, and I wouldn't know."

"Did any of them ever get pregnant?"

"Not that I know of," he admitted.

Gwen reached out and touched his cheek. "I know that you have a hard past and that not all of it's pretty, I'm sure you've done things you've not even told me about, but I accept you for who you are now, not who you were then."

Gwen looked thoughtful.

"What was her name?" Gwen asked, unperturbed by this conversation.

"The first person I slept with? It's the same Talia who wrote that letter you read, and her father is a very powerful man. Hopefully, you won't have to deal with either of them."

"Why?"

"Manipulation," he replied. "I needed her to do something for me, that's all. I didn't love her or anything."

"What was her reason?" Gwen rested her head on his shoulder.

"She saw me as a substitute me for Bruce, I suppose. I didn't really care though."

"But she's twice your age!" Gwen was surprised, she'd always guessed he could be the type to sleep around when he had other girlfriends before he'd met her, but considering the woman was twice his age was very unsettling. Gwen gathered her thoughts in a response.

"I think it's very sad," Gwen ran her fingers through his hair.

"Sad?"

"Yes, it's sad. You've always had good things, but you always lose them, and then you blame others for the loss, lashing out like a child."

He didn't know what to say.

"Everything about you is broken, but that's all right, there's nothing wrong with imperfections. This old Kevin, the one who hates and manipulates and kills out a misguided sense of righteousness. That is not the Kevin Levin that I know, that's not the person I fell in love with."

"Gwen, I haven't changed that much," he sighed.

"You have, you just don't know it yet."

"Really?" his eyes seemed to shine with a glint of happiness.

"Yes," she resumed her heated kiss. He kept his arms around her waist and moved her over to his bed. They tumbled together in a messy, needy heap.

"You're looking at me, Kevin," Gwen sighed.

"I can't ogle my girlfriend?" he laughed.

"Gwen, I love you," he whispered. "You mean more to me than anyone I've ever met. I told you I've said that before, but I know that I mean it tonight."

Gwen pulled him down on top of her. "It's all right Kevin. That's not how you are now. I know you, and I know you won't hurt me."

She kissed him gently. Gwen ran her fingers over his clothed chest and removed his shirt.

Kevin didn't hesitate for a moment; he lay her down on the bed and wrapped his arms around her shoulders as he pressed kisses to her neck.

This night held more significance to him than any night in his life. He loved her, and he would show her that. He promised himself that he would make love to her. He wanted Gwen to know everything he felt for her and that he needed her far more than she needed him.

"I slept with girls before, but I only love you, just you. Gwen I—"

Gwen kissed him again, interrupting him.

"You don't have to tell me something I already know."

Kevin pulled restlessly at her shirt, taking it off.

The world fell away and for a short time, it was just the two of them. Kevin lost himself for a long time, no matter what happened to them, even if they broke up or grew apart, he was never going to forget that night as long as he lived.

Kevin woke up the next day feeling rested and content. "Gwen…"

He knew she was gone; she had school the next day. He got up and slipped into some boxers as he wandered around his safe house. He found a handwritten note on the table. His mom had been gone away on business so she didn't know he was gone from the house.

_I'm meeting Ben later this afternoon. Still can't pinpoint when Joker's going to strike. Come in your get-up if you want, but _nobody dies_, do you understand me, Kevin Ethan Levin? _

_I love you. You make me happy._

_G._

What put it in her mind to do that, he didn't know, she even _wrote notes_ like Talia did. That was kind of creepy.

He knew Ben wouldn't go to school that day and that he'd still be searching for the Joker.

* * *

><p>Ben knew that Gwen was still recovering and that Kevin was with her. He couldn't rely on all Kevin's high tech gadgets to help him locate the Joker, but he could guess that since the Joker Venom was going into the water supply, the maniac would be hiding near the reservoir.<p>

Ben found an old abandoned warehouse with a lot of men going in and out of the building.

Ben transformed into Four Arms and leapt out; he threw minions into the walls and pummeled them until they all took off running or lying on the floor unconscious.

Ben transformed back to normal as he heard a smattering of applause greet him.

"Well, well, the Alien Weirdo finally found me," Joker cackled. "This looks like the ultimate showdown."

"With good guys, bad guys and explosions," Ben retorted. He sent a signal to Gwen and Kevin's Plumber badges to summon them to where he was.

"Who do you think you are, Mr. Rogers in a bloodstained sweater?"

"You wish, Joker, you wish. I don't know, maybe someone will write a song about it," Ben prepared to fight.

"Well then, let's tango!"

This was going to be the hardest fight of his life, and he hoped that he'd be up to the challenge.


End file.
